Star Trek: Warlord, Fools Rush In
by Morphere
Summary: The third story of the Dreadnaught mark II class starship, the USS Warlord. This story is now complete! Please tell me what you think. I'm grateful for the reviews and compliments I've received so far. A Romulan Christmas is coming!
1. Chapter 1

"Captain's Log, stardate 56921.3: We have received our first mission. The Romulans have informed us the Remans are engaging in guerilla-style tactics to further disrupt their military actions. They believe the newly appointed ambassador Donatra would be an important symbolic target, since she was partially responsible for the Reman's defeat. Starfleet has assigned us as escorts to the Devoras, escorting her back to Romulus in an effort to dissuade an attack. Our orders are specific; we are not to fire unless directly fired upon. Computer, end recording."

The USS Warlord and the IRW Devoras flew, side by side, towards the neutral zone. It was still almost three weeks away, even at warp seven. It still seemed odd to many of the crew to see something that had been designated a 'hostile' vessel for so long so close. At one point, the B-type D'deridex class warbird was considered the most powerful ship in the Alpha Quadrant. It was nearly twice as large as the largest Federation starship, the Galaxy class. That was before the advent of the USS Warlord. To see the two ships side by side, it was easy to tell the Warlord was almost two hundred meters longer.

Although visitations from each ship's crew had been discouraged, the few exchanges had always been cordial. Two days into the journey, Commander Kolvash of the Romulan vessel invited the senior officers to his ship for dinner. Captain Bolerov, Liutenant Commander T'Nia and Lieutenant Kelly had been allowed to go over. The experience had been 'interesting', as T'Nia noted upon their return. Her exact statement had been, "The Romulans may, indeed, be similar to Vulcans in appearance, but most assuredly not in dining preferences." Commander Stephen Kirk wasn't upset at all at not being invited to the dinner. First of all, someone had to stay behind in the remote chance there would be trouble and second, he wasn't much of a social-type.

All of that was about to change. Four days into their twenty day trip home, Captain Bolerov decided to repay the favor. Once again, the 'fine linens' were brought out in the officer's mess hall. Commander Kolvash, Ambassador Donatra, Subcommander Tolkaan, and Centurian T'osa beamed aboard in their formal attire. Once again, Stephen and the rest of the senior officers were required to wear their formal uniforms as well, much to Stephen's chagrin. Commander Kirk and T'Nia had been called to meet the Romulan foursome in the main transporter room. 

Ambassador Donatra was a tall, attractive Romulan woman with short dark brown hair and traditional brown eyes. Her face was rounded and a bit wide. Even with the oversized, silver-checkered dress uniform the thinness of her frame could be deduced. By her speech at the award ceremony, Stephen could tell she was intelligent and cunning. From what Captain Picard had told him, Donatra had been instrumental in helping him defeat the Scimitar. Stephen decided it would be in his best interests to stay on her good side.

Commander Kolvash was the captain of the Devoras. Captain Bolerov had warned his crew to guard their every word around him. He was tall, even for a Romulan, and powerfully built. His brown eyes were deeply recessed, giving him what looked like a permanent scowl. The tight mesh sash across his dress uniform was filled with colored jewels; presumably decorations for outstanding service. As soon as he arrived, his eyes began taking in everything he saw. The captain described him as intelligent and manipulative. Kirk had already picked what he thought was a good answer to any question Kolvash would ask... "I'll have to check with my captain about that."

Subcommander Tolkaan was shorter than his commander and not nearly as well-built. His uniform appeared to hang off his shoulders. He actually looked slimy. His short brown hair was matted close to his head. While Kolvash was looking over all the equipment, Tolkaan appeared to be intently studying all the people. What added to his 'sliminess' was the fact he kept fidgeting with his hands. Tolkaan seemed to embody the stereotypical Romulan. It would do his crew well not to let him wander off by himself.

Centurian T'osa was completely different from the others. She was a little shorter than Donatra, with much gentler features. Her hair was a lighter brown than the others and her large eyes were the color of amber. Unlike the others, she almost seemed demure when she spoke. She also spoke with an accent, unlike the other three, who spoke perfect English. There was also something different about her checkerboard dress uniform. While Donatra's uniform was just like the males' uniforms, squared at the top and tapering to the hip, T'osa's was more form-fitting. The curves of her body were gently visible. The male part of Kirk wanted to get to know her better. The Starfleet part of Kirk thought she was probably part of the Tal'Shiar, the Romulan government's secret police.

Captain Bolerov spoke with an air of authority. "Welcome aboard the Warlord, ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce you to our first officer, Commander Stephen Kirk." He gestured to Stephen.

Donatra extended her hand. "We met at the award ceremony two weeks ago, did we not?"

Stephen took her hand and bowed slightly. "Yes, we did, Ma'am."

Kolvash took Stephen's hand and shook it tightly. Kirk returned the favor with a visible look of acceptance from the Romulan commander. "A pleasure, Commander." Kolvash's eyes squinted for a moment as he stared at Stephen. "Kirk... by any chance, you wouldn't be related to..."

Stephen smirked. Here we go again, he thought. "Captain James T. Kirk, yes. He was my great grandfather."

Commander Kolvash laughed out loud. "Ha! That va'rool tormented us for years!" He turned to Ambassador Donatra, whose facial expressions were obviously trying to tell him to calm down. He apparently didn't get the hint. "Now, Donatra, I am convinced... if a descendent of Kirk's is back in space, we need to make peace with the Federation." The four Romulans laughed, Donatra's laugh being more from discomfort.

The Starfleet officers chuckled too, except for Kirk. His smirk got bigger. "And I thought my name was only good for getting passing grades at the Academy," He replied sarcastically. That comment brought the room from laughter to a rather uncomfortable quiet. Captain Bolerov shot Stephen a quick glance, then chuckled back at the ambassador.

Subcommander Tolkaan presented his hand. Kirk was surprised at the strength of his handshake. He wouldn't have expected such strength from someone who looked so thin. "Commander Kirk, an honor." His voice was quiet and melodic. It reminded him of a salesman.

Finally, Stephen approached Centurian T'osa. She held out her hand, but barely looked up at him. She looked into his eyes for just a moment. She smiled sweetly. "Greetings, Commander," she finally said quietly. "Thank you for saving my people." With that statement, the other three also voiced their gratitude. T'osa continued. "I understand you were commanding this ship during the battle."

"Well..." Kirk started.

"Yes," Bolerov interrupted. "He was. And he was exemplary as was the entire crew. I'm proud to have him at my side." Andrei stared directly at Kirk with a 'mind your speech' look.

After the outburst in the captain's quarters almost two weeks ago, Stephen could barely tolerate the empty compliment Bolerov had just paid him. "Thank you, Sir," was his only reply.

"I imagine we're all grateful you're here, Commander," T'osa concluded. She looked up at him again with a warm smile.

"Well," Captain Bolerov began, rubbing his hands together, "why don't we head over to the officer's dining hall? I can show you some of the ship on the way." As he approached the door to the transporter room, it slid open with a hiss. Everyone filed in behind. Kirk motioned for the Romulan delegation to go ahead of him, leaving T'Nia and him lagging behind.

Quietly, T'Nia leaned in closer to Stephen and commented, "I think Centurian T'osa has taken a liking to you."

Subtly turning his head to her, he replied, "I think she's trying to get into my head and learn some things about this ship." He added a wry smile.

"Perhaps..." she admitted, "but she may be trying to get into more than just your head." Her expressionless face turned back forward and she started for the door.

Kirk was shocked that T'Nia would make such a comment. He almost laughed out loud. He gave her a gentle shove from behind. "Where have you been learning that kind of stuff?" He asked with a grin.

Partly out the door, she turned her head back in. "Tony." 


	2. Chapter 2

The group entered the officers' dining area, which had been fully trimmed for the occasion, thanks to a replicator and Lieutenant Elaine Davies' sense of interior decorating. The walls in the generous, rectangular room were draped with silky blue and white fabric. The various round tables were replaced with a single, large table with a darker blue tablecloth. Several pedestal candleabras lined the edge of the room, just inside the curtains. The placesettings were silver and white. The dishes, per Starfleet regulations, had the Starfleet insignia on them, as did the gold-rimmed glasses. Per Captain Bolerov's instructions, Tchaikovsky played softly overhead through the speakers.

The party sat down; Captain Bolerov sat at the head of the table, Ambassador Donatra sat to his immediate right, Commander Kolvash to her right, Subcommander Tolkaan to his right, and Centurian T'osa to his right. To Bolerov's left was Doctor Dorrin Rass, to his left was Lieutenant Commander T'nia, to her left was Chief Engineer Tom Kelly, to his left Lieutenant Elaine Davies, to her left Lieutenant Tony Moreau, and at the opposite end of the table was Commander Stephen Kirk.

The Romulans watched as the Federation crew picked up their napkins and placed them in their laps. They did the same. As previously organized, the captain had some ensigns from maintenance serve the food. First came the Waldorf salad. Stephen bowed his head while the other Starfleet officers began eating. As he raised his head, he noticed the Romulan officers weren't eating yet.

Kirk turned to T'osa. "You didn't have to wait for me." He said smiling.

Before T'osa could answer, Captain Bolerov explained. "It is Romulan etiquette to wait until the hosts have started before the guests eat." He turned to Ambassador Donatra. "We learned that lesson a couple of nights ago."

Bolerov would do well to stop butting in, Kirk thought. "I see," Stephen simply replied. He bagan eating his salad.

"I see you were paying attention," Donatra complimented as she finally took a bite. "That honors us. Thank you." The other Romulan officers smiled and nodded.

Tolkaan pointed to the overhead speaker. "I hope it's okay to admit to some illegal activity," he said with a slightly twisted smile. The group turned and looked at him intently. "Despite our history of hostilities towards each other, I have always enjoyed listening to Earth music, especially classical music."

"Yes, it is so much fuller than Romulan music... and so much more varied." Commander Kolvash concurred. He feigned a surprised look on his face. "Oops... I guess I just admitted my guilt, too." The group smiled.

"I won't reveal your secrets, but I expect your votes at the next election." Donatra quipped. The Romulan officers laughed. The Federation officers chuckled politely.

The salads finished a few minutes later. On queue, the same 'waiter' ensigns, whom Stephen recognized from maintenance, served up the soups, New England clam chowder. Kirk wasn't a fan of clams, but he knew he'd have to stomach this 'for the team.'

The Romulan delegation seemed to enjoy the chowder much more thoroughly than Stephen did. "This is absolutely marvelous!" Donatra proclaimed. The others nodded in agreement as they inhaled their portions. "You know," she continued, "although I only spent a few days on Earth, I was absolutely fascinated by the culture... or should I say 'cultures'. I have been to, or read about, many worlds. Almost all of them, at some point in their development, unified into a single culture, a single society. Earth, however, has retained its individual nations, despite having a unified voice in the Federation. Visiting each nation is like visiting a small world unto itself. I wish I could have stayed longer."

Kolvash looked a little skeptical. "Such divisions would seem to weaken the planet. You know... competing factions competing for equal voices, equal shares of resources, and so forth."

Bolerov nodded. "You know, at one point, Earth was exactly as you described." He smiled. "In fact, at one point in our history, my nation of birth and my Commander's nation of birth were bitter enemies." The Starfleet officers chuckled as the Romulans listened intently.

Kirk didn't find it overly humorous that his captain had chosen him to represent a historical 'enemy.' Kirk decided to pick up where his captain left off... interrupt HIM for a change. "Such conflicts over ideological differences almost destroyed our world more than once. Each nation was so convinced that their was was the ONLY right way to live that they were willing to engage in lengthy wars just to prove their point."

"Earth isn't alone in that kind of history. Romulus shares a similar past... as do many worlds." Donatra shared thoughtfully. As Donatra spoke of the past, her own memories of the recent past came to her. She had been a military officer for so long that she initially hated the notion of being an ambassador of good will to the Federation. After all, she had initially helped Shinzon in the Reman's coop of the Romulan Senate. It wasn't just for ideological reasons, however. In the beginning, possibly, but she was eventually attracted to Shinzon personally... more accurately... his power, his drive, his desire. It wasn't until she realized the full extent of his plans for galactic conquest that she made up her mind to turn on him. That act was what kept her from being summarily executed. In the end, the High Command told her she was being re-assigned to the ambassadorial division of the civilian government.

It wasn't until she reached Earth that her opinion of the new position began to change. Her eyes had opened when she realized what she had been told of the Romulans age-old 'emeny' was completely wrong. The Federation embraced her with open arms. There was no lack of discipline, no anarchistic evil. They were just people, not that different from herself. The dinner they hosted two days ago cemented her commitment to her new position. She honestly didn't care if she ever sat in the commander's seat of a warship again.

"Actually," Lieutenant Kelly started, bringing Donatra from her haze, "it wasn't until the vulcans contacted us that we realized Earth was a really small pebble in a pretty big pond."

"You're welcome," T'Nia commented with a remarkably straight face. Everyone laughed.

"Eventually, the Earth governments came together in a new kind of United Nations. But, the world leaders decided to keep the nations as individual nations, complete with their own local leadership. We kept that model even when the United Federation of Planets was established. Each world would retain its individuality, it's own leadership." Bolerov concluded. He had been tempted to imply that Romulus still employs its strong-armed notions of growth by conquest, but at the last minute thought better of it.

"Romulus is much different." Tolkaan interjected. "Our world is one unified body. The Senate controls the activities of the entire Empire. Each senator is given authority over a region. He has subbordinates under him or her who control districts. Districts are divided into city-states. One empire, one group of people, one goal, one vision. Personally, I prefer our way." He folded his arms triumphantly.

"Apparently, the Remans aren't too happy with it," Tony countered with a knowing smile.

"The Remans are a backwards scourge and must be dealt with... harshly... for their treason." Kolvash retorted, obviously upset. He gripped the table tightly.

Donatra put her hand on Kolvash's shoulder. Almost instantly, the anger from his eyes vanished. He let go of the table and looked down, somewhat embarassed. "It's not the government the Remans dislike, Lieutenant," she replied calmly, "it's their lack of representation on it. Our new Senate is attempting to address their concerns so they can put an end to the violence." She patted Commander Kolvash on the shoulder and smiled. "Obviously, not all of us agrees with the Senate's course of action."

Captain Bolerov considered his next words, but he couldn't help but agree with Kolvash. "I suppose I would have to be one of those who disagrees. I find it a difficult notion to reward treason, murder, and attempted genocide with a greater say in government."

Commander Kolvash's face lit up with the hopes he had found a kindred spirit. "Absolutely." he concurred as he pointed to Bolerov. "It sends the wrong message. We become as bad as Klingons... promotion through attrition."

Captain Bolerov was about to speak when Donatra interrupted. "Now, now," she began, waving her hands to prevent the two from riling each other to a fever pitch, "our government has very specific reasons for their actions. We must trust to our leadership." 

Bolerov and Kolvash eventually softened. "I suppose you're right." Kolvash relented.

Donatra knew part of the reason for the Senate's desire for a peaceful solution. The Dominion War had been particularly brutal on the Romulan fleet. Until they were able to improve their cloaking devices to where the Dominion ships couldn't detect them, even their mightiest ships were little more than target practice. While cloaked, Romulan vessels couldn't raise shields; so when the Dominion fired on a cloaked ship, it was virtually defenseless. Though they would never admit it to outsiders, the Romulans lost well over two hundred ships. They simply weren't prepared to go into another protracted conflict with an enemy of unknown firepower. What little intelligence they had gained on the Reman warships Scimitar and Rapier were enough to intimidate the Senate into pursuing a more peaceful solution.

"Let us change the subject," Donatra offered, a hopeful look on her face. "what is next in this wonderful feast you have prepared for us?" 


	3. Chapter 3

To her gratitude, Donatra and the others were served the main course; cornish game hen, beans, and glazed potatoes. Although the Romulans attempted to eat the main course politely, it was obvious that this selection would never qualify as a 'favorite'. It serves us right, Donatra admitted to herself, the humans weren't particularly fond of the d'korka roast they had two nights ago.

T'osa's curiosity finally got the better of her. "Commander," she started warily, "I couldn't help but notice that you bowed your head before we began eating. May I ask what you were doing?" 

"Oh..." Kirk was mildly surprised at the question. "I was praying... giving thanks for the food and the company, specifically." he replied with a genuine smile.

Bolerov swallowed quickly and interjected, "There are still some on Earth who believe in deities, gods, an afterlife, and such. Most of us, however, have come to realize that religion is an obsolete notion." He added a smile of confidence as he took another bite.

The Romulans looked surprised. Donatra, of course, was the first person to visibly recover. "Thankfully, there is room in this galaxy for many beliefs, even disbelief." She smiled and stomached another bite of the hen. Kolvash eventually visibly acquiesced and returned to the potatoes, which he found quite acceptable. Tolkaan's face seemed to imply that he had passed some form of judgement and nodded slightly as he took a long drink.

T'osa was the only one who remained on the topic. "Still..." she said slowly, "that is a pity. Romulans also believe in gods. It is part of who we are. It would be unfortunate if Earthers found us obsolete or backwards because of it."

Having realized the social mistake he just made, Bolerov struggled to repair the damage. "Um," he began, obviously flustered, "I used the wrong word when I said 'obsolete'. Russian is still my primary language." He offered a weak smile.

"I believe my captain was also exaggerating a bit when he said 'most of us', too. There are quite a large number of humans who believe in God." Kirk smiled first to T'osa, then to Bolerov. It was a chance to humble the captain a bit and save his butt.

"Another arguement against retaining individual nationalities under a global government." Tolkaan commented flatly.

Tom and Andrei both shot subcommander Tolkaan a glare. Donatra looked worriedly at the trio wondering what would be said next. On the surface, this seemed like a good idea. It was an opportunity to get to know the humans a little better. Unless things changed, this could turn into a diplomatic disaster. Things went so much smoother aboard the Devoras. The Starfleets had just kept to small talk, mostly about the award ceremony and the launch ceremony.

It almost seemed as though T'osa had read Donatra's mind. "Well, I didn't mean any offense," she offered humbly, "but I thank you, Commander, for praying for us. I also find it interesting that you gave thanks before you ate. Perhaps, some other time, we could discuss..."

At that moment, the light by the door began to flash red. Over the internal speakers, the music stopped. It was replaced by a robotic male voice repeating, "Intruder alert."

"What the hell..." Bolerov exclaimed. He tapped his comm badge. "Captain to bridge, what's going on?"

"Captain Bolerov, this is Ensign Carter. We have a pair of intruders on deck twelve, section four. They're Romulan."

"We'll be right there!" Bolerov yelled at his chest. He tapped his badge again as he stood up. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded.

Tolkaan stood immediately, but was stayed by his commander's outstretched arm. "Captain Bolerov," Kolvash began, his voice excited, but controlled, "I assure you; I know nothing of this."

Donatra stood and waved her hands for patience. "Please, Captain... we were not sent here to be spies. Whoever these people are, they are not operating under our orders or approval."

"We'll know soon enough." The Starfleet officers were up by now. "Commander, secure us a pair of weapons and meet us on deck twelve, section four." Bolerov turned to Commander Kolvash. "Commander, I respectfully request you and your party join us below." His voice was conversational, but demanding.

"I would insist if you hadn't asked, Captain." Kolvash replied, his voice equally aggresive.

The Romulans and the Starfleet officers followed Bolerov's lead as he ran out the door. Kirk, in the meantime, took off the other direction, trying to remember where they stowed the hand phasers. As he remembered his to-do list, he started doubting whether they had even been unpacked yet. 


	4. Chapter 4

The group of seven, led by Captain Bolerov exited the turbolift, ran down the hall, then turned to the right to a hallway that led to the upper level of main engineering. Kirk met them at the intersection with a pair of phasers. He tossed one to the captain. The group then continued into the hall.

There, surrounded by shimmering panels of energy, were two uniformed Romulan males. One was a thin Romulan lying on the ground half-conscious with a rather large burn mark on the left side of his midsection. The other was kneeling beside the first was a little larger. He was attempting to awaken the other. Two disruptor pistols lay on the ground beside them. Each group of Romulans seemed absolutely shocked at the presence of the other group.

Commander Kolvash, his face turning an ashen green color, was the first to speak. "What, in the five rings of Ered, ARE you doing here?" His voice seemed genuinely livid.

Still in shock, the larger one stumbled trying to find the right words. "Um..."

Kolvash's eyes and nostrils flared. "On your feet!" He yelled. The centurian looked terrified. He jumped to his feet, letting the other one's head fall back to the floor.

"Ow," the fallen centurian whined.

The Romulan commander's eyes never left the larger centurian. "Speak... now!"

"Commander!" he began with a somewhat shakey voice, "This Federation ship has static fields throughout several areas. Our sensors can't penetrate them. We were sent to attempt an internal scan..."

Kolvash hissed his words in a slow, deep voice. "Under who's authority?"

Realizing this mission was a grave mistake, the centurian's eyes grew as did his panic level. "Subcommander Cardek, Sir!"

Kolvash's eyes narrowed. His eyes shifted to Captain Bolerov. "Opportunistic, little worm."

Bolerov, curious as to how Kolvash was able to put the fear of death in his crew, merely smirked a bit. "I see. The Federation has a share of those as well."

Kolvash's eyes shifted back to his renegade crewmembers. He nodded towards the one on the floor. "What's wrong with him?"

"Sir... he tried to shoot us out. The shot ricocheted back and struck him."

The Romulan commander regarding the two with great disdain. "Serves him right." He turned away to face the group. "Captain," he started, finally starting to calm down, "I sincerely apologize for this. You have my word, I left strict instructions that no one was to be on this ship without my knowledge and approval." Kolvash pulled a communicator from his uniform.

Captain Bolerov leaned in close to Lieutenant Kelly. "I thought the isolation protocol was supposed to drain the energy from weapons," he whispered.

Tom shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"I really am truly sorry about this, Captain." Donatra offered.

"Kolvash to Devoras."

A female voice came through the speaker. "Devoras... Lindra here, Commander."

In a stern, but finally calmed voice, Tolvash continued, "Put me through to security."

There was a slight, momentary hiss in his communicator. "Security, Subcommander Thol here, Sir."

Kolvash nodded to Tolkaan. "We are beaming back. Meet us at the transport room with a security detachment."

"Understood, Sir."

"That is all. Glory to the Empire."

"Glory to the Empire!"

Kolvash took a deep breath, then looked back to Captain Bolerov. "Again, I am very sorry for this intrusion. Rest assured, Cardek will be punished most generously for his actions." He smiled evilly.

Bolerov considered all the options of words he had available. Personally, he would have preferred it if the Romulans had been wiped out by the Remans. Romulans could never be trusted. History has proven that statement true time after time. In reality, Cardek was probably going to get a promotion out of this. Still, something diplomatic had to be said. If this truce was going to fall apart, which seemed likely, it wouldn't be his fault. "Commander," he said finally, "in the interest of peace between our peoples, I consider the matter closed. I trust you will handle this." He pointed to the two in the force field. "What about those two?"

Kolvash regarded them nonchalantly. "They are intruders on your ship, Captain. Deal with them as you wish. I will make no requests to have them remanded to my custody." The two captured Romulans' eyes bulged.

"Ah..." Andrei began, "we really don't have the facilities to keep them. Our brig is still under construction."

"You'd keep them alive?" Kolvash looked perplexed. He shrugged. "Very well. Lower your force field and I'll return them to the Devoras for discipline."

The look of amazement lasted for only a moment on Bolerov's face. He looked up at the ceiling. "Computer, disengage force field in section twelve four, authorization Bolerov, alpha one three five zeta."

The shimmering panels of energy dispersed from around the Romulan intruders. "Force field disengaged," the disembodied female computer voice replied.

Kolvash quickly scooped up the disruptors and tucked them into his tunic. He then grabbed the two by the neck and picked them up. The wounded Romulan grunted as he slowly came to his feet. 

Ambassador Donatra extended her hand. "Captain, thank you for your hospitality and stimulating conversation. I am sorry it had to end this way. Perhaps we can continue our discussions some other time."

Bolerov shook her hand. "I am certain that can be arranged. I think we would enjoy the opportunity to talk some more."

"I, for one, am very curious to know about this interior shielding technology." Tolkaan commented. Donatra rolled her eyes.

T'osa extended her hand to Stephen. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Commander Kirk. Perhaps we can find some time during this trip to discuss religion some more?"

He shook her hand. Although he was still fairly certain she was a spy, she seemed like a really nice spy. "I'll ask my captain, but I don't see why not. It was a pleasure to meet you, too, Centurian T'osa."

They all said their good-byes. Kolvash dragged the two toward the main hallway as the other Romulans gathered. Tolkaan pulled out his communicator, and after a brief exchange, the group transported out in a flash of green sparks.

The group let out a collective sigh of relief. Tony smiled. "So that's what it's like having the Romulans as neighbors, huh?" 


	5. Chapter 5

"Captain's Log, stardate 56955.0: We are now six days from the Neutral Zone and eight days from completing our first official mission. All has been quiet so far. There continues to be no transportation from ship to ship, although Command Kolvash and I are still allowing limited ship to ship communication. Starfleet has informed me that the remainder of our crew is en route to Starbase seventy-three. We will rendevous with the starbase in two weeks. Our overheating issue with the primary cannons continues to be an issue as well as our problems with the secondary shield grid. I will be meeting with Lieutenant Kelly this morning for some much needed answers. End recording."

Lieutenant Tom Kelly entered the situation room and took his normal seat for the weekly status meeting, two chairs to the right of the captain. He was already a little nervous to be here after the last two exchanges he had with the new captain. Bolerov had been quite vocal in his displeasure at Tom's lack of progress regarding the only two remaining 'big ticket' issues with the ship. T'Nia and Kirk were the only other two people in the room.

"Nice of you to join us, Lieutenant," Captain Bolerov said coldly. His gaze was emotionless, which made Stephen a little uncomfortable. Bolerov had been unnecessarily hard on Tom these past few days. After all, Tom had been a conveyor belt of miracles putting this ship together for as long as he'd been aboard. Andrei hadn't been giving Tom any credit for past performance and he wasn't offering any slack due to the complexity of the technology that was causing the problem. Captain Bolerov had been riding a lot of people too hard, including him. Bolerov had been pushing Stephen to be more forceful with Tom, but when Stephen wouldn't go as far as the captain wanted, Bolerov took matters into his own hands and took Kirk out of the loop.

"Sorry, Captain," Tom said, setting down a PADD as he sat. "I was putting together some data..."

Bolerov obtusely turned his chair to Kirk. "Commander, read off the list of outstanding issues," he started, giving no regard to the statement Kelly was trying to make. Tom stopped talking and unsuccessfully tried to hide an exasperated look on his face.

Stephen picked up his PADD and scanned its contents. It had barely been two weeks since Andrei Bolerov took over as captain of the Warlord and Stephen was losing his patience. Bolerov knew full well what was on this report. Stephen and he had talked about it yesterday morning. This was just another of the captain's humbling tactics. Kirk dared to cast a quick, sympathetic look at Tom. "Yes, Sir." Kirk began. "For high priority items, I have fixing the neutron cannons, solving the problem with the secondary shields, and correcting the auxiliary power fluxuations. As secondary prio..."

"Thank you, Commander." Bolerov interrupted. Now confident that he was about to make his point abundantly clear, he turned to face Lieutenant Kelly completely. "Lieutenant," he began with a sarcastic smile, "let's begin with item one. What's the status of the cannons?"

Tom let out a deep breath. They had gone over this issue before, just two days ago. He was getting physically sick of this topic. "It hasn't changed, Captain. We still don't know what's causing the overheating. We've looked at the original design specs down to the micrometer. Everything is fine. I just..."

"Mr. Kelly." Bolerov's voice became more authoritative. His Russian accent became a bit sharper. "This problem has been one of several on your plate for over a month. I need solutions, not excuses." His eyes narrowed. "We are going to be in Romulan space in less than a week. There is reason to believe an assassination attempt will be made on the vessel we're escorting and our primary means of defending ourselves doesn't work properly. Do you see a problem here, Lieutenant?" His voice became more stern, though he never once raised it.

"Yes, Sir... I do." Tom admitted dejectedly.

"Good." Bolerov sat back in his seat victoriously. "We will meet again in five days, Lieutenant. If you don't have a solution in your hands by then, I'll have a formal reprimand in mine. Is that understood?"

It was amazing to Tom how quickly he had fallen. Captain Velasquez was ready to name a holiday after him and this guy is ready to string him up by the yardarm. "Yes, Sir," he replied quietly.

Captain Bolerov wasn't about to let him off that way. Tom needed some fire in his belly. Andrei stood up at attention. "I said," his voice became official. "do you understand me?"

Tom considered him momentarily. It wasn't as though he was a cadet, for crying out loud. Captain Bolerov wasn't willing to listen to reason. The mechanics of the cannons were just fine. Whatever was wrong had nothing to do with how it was built. That meant it was beyond his knowledge... but ANDREI didn't want to hear that. Now he's being treated like a snot-nosed, first year cadet. Who did this captain think he WAS? Tom shot up from his chair, stood at attention, and saluted. "Yes, Sir!" He shouted.

Kirk sat in his seat, fuming. This berating was completely unnecessary as far as Stephen was concerned. Bolerov wasn't there at the beginning. He wasn't there when the ship started falling apart during the fight with the Rapier. Tom deserved much better than this. In his anger, he couldn't look at either of them. He simply thumbed through the to-do list on his PADD, though he had no idea what he was reading.

The captain's voice softened. That was the reaction Andrei wanted from Tom. That was the fire he knew would get the problem fixed. "You are dismissed."

Tom spun on his heel and left the room. The door hissed closed behind him.

Andrei clapped his hands together. He turned to look at Kirk, who was still seated. "I believe that concludes our status meeting, Commander," he stated with a smile.

Kirk had so many things he wanted to say; in Tom's defense and in his own. He looked up at the captain, his eyes intense. "Permission to speak freely, Sir?" He asked slowly.

The captain studied his first officer's face thoughtfully. Obviously, Stephen didn't approve of how he dealt with the lieutenant's mental block. There would be time for explanations, but not now. Stephen didn't want to hear explanations, he just wanted to vent. "No," he eventually answered. Kirk looked shocked. Never before had a superior officer refused that request. Bolerov headed for the door, then turned his head back around. "But, we will talk, Commander... eventually." With that, the captain left the room and his stunned first officer. 


	6. Chapter 6

"Would you like to share some vodka with me?" Captain Bolerov asked as he invited Commander Kolvash to sit down. The captain's personal quarters was, of course, the largest quarters of anyone. Not only did it have an entertainment room, it had a dining room, a small kitchen, a full bathroom, and a bedroom suite complete with sitting room.

Commander Kolvash sat down on the aged, leather couch. It was unusually firm; it seemed to be quite old. It was cracked in a few places, but looked to be remarkably good, if the furniture was as old as Kolvash estimated. He was curious about this 'vodka'. "What is this vodka you speak of?"

"I was hoping you'd ask," Bolerov replied with a smile and a wink. He walked over to a small chest in front of the kitchen door and withdrew a glass bottle of clear liquid. After a quick duck in the kitchen, he came back with the bottle and two glasses. He began pouring. He then handed a glass to the commander. "This, my dear commander, is vodka." He raised his glass for a toast.

Commander Kolvash raised his glass to the captains. "I am indeed curious now." He commented, examining the glass intently. "What shall we drink to?"

"How about to a successful re-negotiations to allow crew members to visit each others ships?" He asked, chuckling.

Kolvash laughed as well. "I will drink to that!" They clanked glasses. Bolerov took a long drink from his glass. After watching him, Kolvash did the same. To his tongue, it was hardly discernable. "Interesting," he commented. Then, the vodka hit his throat. His eyes bulged for a moment and he took a breath through his mouth to ease the burn. Andrei smiled, glad to have achieved the desired result. "Not bad," the Romulan commander finally concluded with a smile. 

Kolvash could tell the Federation captain was trying to get a reaction from him. He figured he'd let Bolerov have ot. This vodka had a little kick to it, but Tolvash had certainly tasted much better stuff. "The next time I come," he countered, "I'll bring some Bacaani ale."

Bolerov nodded. "Is that what we call romulan ale? It's kind of a syrupy, pale green liquid?"

"The same," Kolvash answered with a smile.

Bolerov had heard of this drink. It had been rumored to kill small animals. "I believe that is illegal within the Federation."

"Ah," Kolvash said with a wry smile. "then I guess our next 'meeting' will have to be aboard MY ship." The two laughed clanked glasses again.

"Then... I guess this means we can resume visitations?" Bolerov asked with a mildly sarcastic tone.

"I think that would be fine." Kolvash replied. "Only a few at a time, of course... and with escorts."

"Agreed. And, Kolvash, this time... no more uninvited guests." Andrei gave him a knowing smile.

Kolvash looked surprised. "Captain," he began pleadingly, "I told you I had nothing to do with those spies. It was my second in command's doing. He is being disciplined as we speak." He raised his glass high before taking another drink.

Bolerov's eyes narrowed a bit, but his smile never left. "Commander, commander...Cardek may have given the order to THEM... but you gave the order to HIM." He put his glass on the antique table.

Kolvash's face twisted as he showed signs of being upset. He stood up. "Now, look, Captain... if you're suggesting..." Bolerov folded his arms and cocked his head. Kolvash could tell the Federation captain wasn't buying the lie... and to continue this charade would only damage relations, so he sat back down and relaxed his expression. His eyes looked up at the intent gaze of Captain Bolerov. "Alright, alright," he relented, "I ordered it. It was foolish and I spent a entirely too much time having to explain myself to Ambassador Donatra. Do you blame me?"

Andrei let his arms down. He reached for his glass, a look of victory again in his eyes. "Not at all," he replied with a smile. "Just don't let it happen again." He raised his glass.

Kolvash raised his glass to Bolerov's. "I'll definately drink to that." The two shared another drink. The commander relaxed a bit. This Andrei Bolerov was cut from the same cloth as himself. He could really enjoy getting to know this Federation captain... which was quite a dramatic change in beliefs he held just a few months ago. "Tell me," he began after several seconds of contemplation, "I know your ship is currently waiting for the rest of her crew. How did you know about my two spies so quickly?"

Bolerov chuckled and motioned towards the door. "Biometric sensors... they run every three to five meters in the halls, rooms, storage... you name it. Whenever someone comes aboard, their biometric signs are logged and given access to certain parts of the ship. As unregistered lifeforms, the ship's automatic defense systems kicked in and limited their access to nowhere."

Kolvash shook his head and laughed. "Now that's impressive... a ship that defends itself. You don't mind if I have my science officers continue to scan your ship?" He already knew the answer. Apparently, Bolerov was quite confident about this vessel's ability to repel any attempt at information gathering.

"Be my guest, commander," the captain's smile became even more devious. "I hear the static field between the primary and secondary hulls is quite formidible to sensors."

"It is." Kolvash admitted defeatedly. 


	7. Chapter 7

Commander Kirk was well into the second shift as the bridge duty officer. Commander Kolvash had been aboard for over two hours with Captain Bolerov discussing whether or not to allow ship to ship visitations to resume. Hopefully, something could be arranged. It had been quite pleasant speaking with T'osa, even though he was only able to do it twice since the ill-fated dinner. He was convinced more than ever that she had alterior motives to befriending him, but it didn't matter. It was a pleasant change of pace. With the new juggling of the ships roster, he wasn't able to spend any off-duty time with his friends. 

He looked around at the makeshift crew. Ensign Chris Washington was at the helm; another fresh recruit from the Academy and from his gaunt build, in desperate need of a good meal. Lieutenant M'ovara sat at the tactical station; an Andorian male of unknown age, but he looked as though he had been around the block a few times. Behind him, Elaine Davies and Tony Moreau were still on duty from ealier in the day, though they were due to stand down in a couple of hours. Andorians were never known for small talk, so Stephen had spent his time getting to know Washington, whom he discovered was an avid baseball fan.

"Argh!" Lieutenant Davies exclaimed as she took her earpiece out and threw it on the console. The other four members of the bridge crew turned her direction. Realizing she didn't mean to be vocal about her displeasure at the communications system, she looked down rather humbly. "Sorry, Sir," she apologized, half looking up to Commander Kirk's gaze.

Stephen dared a slight smile, remembering what it was like to be publically caught in an embarassing situation. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked innocently.

"Well," she started cautiously, "it's this comm system. Ever since we put in that new computer, it keeps popping every now and then. It's really annoying... and the loud ones actually hurt."

Stephen turned to Tony. "Tone, do you know anything about this?"

Tony shrugged. "It's the first I ever heard about it." Tony had been meaning to talk to Elaine ever since their misunderstanding a couple of weeks ago at the restaurant, but never quite found the time. Eventually, pride set in telling him that since she was the one who acted unreasonably, it was up to her to clear it up.

Elaine looked rather sheepishly at the commander. "I was thinking I could fix it by myself and not trouble the lieutenant." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Well, Davies," Kirk replied, "that IS his job." He motioned to Tony. "Why don't you take a quick look." This was, potentially, a bad combination. Stephen had noticed that since they returned from Earth, the two had barely spoken a word to each other; a dramatic difference from shortly after the conflict with the Rapier, when he had to quiet them down from talking too much.

"Thank you, Sir," she replied half-heartedly. The truth was, she had meant to talk to Tony for awhile, but on her terms. He had been a little presumptuous with her after the restaurant and she wasn't about to be some 'conquest' for anyone else. The past several weeks had proven to her that she had much more worth than she had thought.

Tony got up and walked over to her seat. "So..." he said cautiously, "what's it doing?"

Trying to be civil, she handed him the earpiece. "It's like I said... it winks out every now and then with a pop. They can get kind of loud, too. Take a listen. It happens every few minutes."

Tony put the earpiece to his ear. He just couldn't resist taking a shot, though. "If I'm being too forward with your earpiece, just let me know." He added a very sarcastic smirk. 

Her eyes narrowed as she smirked back. "Don't worry, I will."

Lieutenant Moreau rolled his eyes. Sure enough, after several seconds, he heard a fairly loud 'pop' come from the earpiece. "Ah!" he exclaimed as he took the instrument from his ear. "You're right, that was loud." He handed the earpiece back to Elaine.

She took the earpiece and wiped it off with her shirt. "Don't sound so surprised, Lieutenant. There IS a brain inside this body, after all." She sounded rather spiteful with that statement.

Tony looked confused, and a little upset. "Huh? I never said there wasn't." His voice began to raise.

"You didn't have to say it... those few times you actually looked someplace other than my breasts, I could see it in your eyes." Her voice raised a bit as well, causing the other three bridge officers to turn and look.

"What are you...?" Tony started. His mind quickly recalled the night at the restaurant. He couldn't remember any conscious attempts at looking at 'inappropriate' body parts. "You're unbelievable. I never looked at... I mean... I was just trying to be nice. You're giving yourself WAY too much credit, Lieutenant."

"Am I really?" she retorted. Her mind went back to all the supposed times when they talked on the way back to Earth. Elaine finally saw through his plans; he was trying to lower her guard after a traumatic incident. When she finally called him on his behavior at the restaurant, he got upset. Everything was falling into place. "You're just like all the..."

"Kids," Stephen piped up.

"You'll never know!" Tony hollered.

"Lieutenants!" Kirk shouted. Shocked, they both stopped and stared at Commander Kirk. By the look on his face, he wasn't very happy. Ensign Washington was desperately struggling to keep from laughing. M'ovara merely cast an extremely disapproving stare at them before returning gruffly to his console. Kirk took a breath and glared at them both. "Now, if I have to set you both in time-out, I will." The two looked a little embarassed with that statement. "I trust that won't be necessary, since I'm not dealing with school children, but Starfleet officers." 

"I'm sorry, Sir." Lieutenant Davies admitted, her head down.

Tony felt a little hurt that his friend wasn't taking his side. "Yeah, me too." He concurred.

Kirk tried to change the subject and get them off their personal problems. "Do you have any idea what's wrong with her station, Lieutenant Moreau?" Kirk softened his expression and his tone.

"Yeah," the lieutenant answered. His shoulders slumped slightly and his tone softened as well. "I'm pretty sure the communications systems got overlooked when we put the primary systems into buffer protection. So... when the nodes sync up, there's a momentary pause. I can fix it pretty quick."

"Typical," Elaine muttered under her breath.

Tony heard that remark. "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Kirk had to think of something quick... not his strong suit. "Tony!" he started, "I need you to look at a computer problem in the ready room. Why don't we take care of that now." Stephen nodded to Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes. Kirk's quick-thinking lying ability was as bad as ever. "Right." He got up and headed to the ready room.

Commander Kirk turned to Lieutenant M'ovara. "Lieutenant, you have the con. If anything happens, come get us."

"Aye, aye, Sir." M'ovara replied. He turned back to his console and slowly shook his head. "Humans," he said quietly. 


	8. Chapter 8

The door to the ready room slid shut behind them. Commander Kirk sat down behind the desk. As Tony sat down at the guest chair, he remarked, "Steve, you suck at lying."

Kirk was a bit surprised at that statement. "Um..." he retorted, holding his collar with the rank pips, "I AM the duty officer." He was willing to give his friends some latitude with the regulations, but he couldn't let it get out of hand.

"Sorry," Tony countered sarcastically, "you suck at lying, Sir." He sat down and slumped back in his chair.

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Whatever." he countered weakly. In his opinion, pulling rank wasn't helping. This would have to be friend to friend. His tone became more frustrated. "What's going on between you two?"

Tony threw his hands in the air. "I wish I knew! Before we got to Earth, everything was fine! Once we got there, she turned into some kind of ice queen and wouldn't give me the time of day. Now, all she's got for me are snide remarks." He put his arms down and shook his head. This was nuts, and the fact that it was him getting talked to by Stephen instead of her didn't sit well with him, either. "If it wasn't for me, she'd still be attached to the floorboards after the battle." He added, tapping his pointer finger to the desk.

Stephen rapped his fingers on the desk. He was on the bridge with them for pretty much the entire trip back to Earth. They seemed to genuinely get along. For awhile, he thought something more than friendship was starting. As his mind rehashed the dinner at Wu's, he couldn't remember much regarding Elaine. She had been pretty tight-lipped all night. Still staring blankly at a wall, Kirk offered, "Maybe something happened to her between Saturday and Tuesday after we got to Earth."

Lieutenant Moreau was just tired of the whole situation. "I don't know, and right now, I don't care." As he considered his situation, a thought dawned on him. "And why am I the only one in the dean's office? How come Davies isn't here, too?" He became aggravated with the continued thought Steve was taking Elaine's side over his.

Stephen's blank stare turned firmly to his friend's eyes. Why wouldn't he get his friend in first to hear his side of the story? Tony's tone was a bit confusing. "I needed to separate you two before you killed each other."

"So you brought ME in?" Tony gestured to himself with both hands, his voice raised.

Stephen was starting to get upset at Tony's impatience, but opted to remain calm. "Calm down, Tone. I wanted to hear your side first."

Deep in the back of Tony's mind, a voice tried telling him that was a logical and reasonable thing to do and that he should calm down. The voice sounded remarkably like T'Nia's... but he was too riled to listen to it. "I thought we were friends, Steve." He stood up. "You of all people should know that I had nothing to do with this whole thing."

That last crack about being friends made Kirk's blood pressure rise, but to his surprise, he continued to keep his calm. "We ARE friends, Tony. But, if I remember what just happened out there correctly, it was your comment to her that started it."

"It was not!" Tony answered excitedly. He knew Elaine began the entire adversarial change in their relationship. Why wasn't Steve taking his word for it? Why wasn't Steve helping? This promotion must have gotten to his head. First, Steve called him into his office like a disobedient school kid, then he shows off his pips. Now this...

Kirk was getting tired of this childish conversation. Clearly, Tony wasn't thinking clearly. He hoped what he was about to do wouldn't damage their friendship, but he was a senior ranking officer now and couldn't afford this kind of behavior to continue. He hoped this was the right course of action. His voice became authoritative, his brown eyes stern. "Sit down, Lieutenant."

"What for..." Tony began.

Stephen glared. His voice raised. "I said, sit down!" Moreau was shocked. His fears realized, he sat down expressionless. "This is a starship, not a soap opera. I don't care about this he-said, she-said garbage, and I'm not about to put up with this childish behavior, either. You both need to grow up." As he said that last statement, it came out wrong, but it was too late. He was in 'commander' mode now, and couldn't afford to back down. "Now, yell, pound the table, swear... whatever you need to do in order to vent your anger... but don't you DARE take it out of this room. Is that clear, Lieutenant?" His eyes never left Tony's.

Tony stared at him blankly. "childish behavior"... "you... need to grow up"... So, this was it. Tony had hoped that getting back together with his old Academy friends would be so much fun. So much for that. "Yes, Sir," he replied flatly.

"Good." He could tell Tony was hurt and angry. Hopefully, some time to cool down would fix everything. Eventually, Stephen would have to apologize for the 'childish' and 'grow up' cracks. "Now, vent your anger if you have to, get out there, fix Lieutenant Davies' system, and be the perfect example of professionalism for the last two hours of your shift. Understood, Lieutenant Moreau?" His tone softened a little.

"Yes, Sir," Tony responded using the exact same tone as before.

"Alright then... dismissed." He stared down at the desk, not wanting to see the hurt in his friend's eyes any more. He heard soft footsteps walking away, then the hiss of the door opening and closing. He sat back in his chair with a sigh and looked at the ceiling. The next discussion probably wouldn't be any better. This was why leadership stunk, he thought. It was completely overrated. He longed for the days when he was just a helmsman. 


	9. Chapter 9

Kirk stuck his head out of the ready room. Tony was sitting silently at his console, busy at work. His eyes were obviously focused only on the screen in front of him. Stephen straightened up. "Lieutenant Davies, may I see you for a moment?"

Elaine shot the commander a look of surprise. Up until now, she had been pleased that Commander Kirk had taken Tony aside to set him straight. But, they were friends. Tony must have said something to get her in trouble. Typical... she thought. Men will say or do anything to get what they want, or to get out of trouble... even lie. "Yes, Sir." she replied robotically. As she walked past Tony's console, she whispered, "Thanks," with biting sarcasm.

Tony's jaw locked and his bottom lip trembled, but he dared not say what had come to his mind. His 'friend' would, no doubt, lower the boom on him again. Instead, he was the 'perfect example of professionalism', and kept his mouth shut.

The door slid closed behind Elaine with a hiss. Kirk was already seated behind the desk. "Please sit down, Lieutenant." He said calmly. He went through a quick vulcan centering exercise T'Nia had shown him before finals week his freshman year. Then, he added a prayer that the conversation would go smoothly.

She was already on the defensive. What could Tony have possibly told him? How could he have twisted the truth? Maybe the commander was just prone to believing whatever Tony said. As she sat down, she started her defense. "Commander, whatever the Lieutenant said..."

Kirk extended his hand calmly. "Calm down, Lieutenant. No one is in trouble and no one is accusing you of anythng."

While she calmed a bit with that revelation, she was also mildly upset to know that 'no one' was getting in trouble after Tony started that whole shouting match. "I see," she replied guardedly. She looked at the commander's face intently, looking for signs of what he was going to say next. He was actually quite a handsome man. His face had angular features with a cute dimple on his chin. His eyes were large and brown with an intense observation to them. His lips were thin... no, no, no... not again. She shook her head and looked away. She wasn't about to let this happen again.

Stephen was somewhat surprised by her intense gaze, followed by a quick look away and head shake. He stroked his mouth absently in case there was any unsightly dinner scraps on his mouth causing her unease. He cleared his throat. "I wanted to get your take on what's been happening between you and Lieutenant Moreau."

This was her chance to get back at Tony for all the hurtful things he said to her. Her chance to get back at all the men who had caused her pain. Did she really just think that? "He's been making improper advances towards me, Commander." His eyes widened. Seeing that she had his attention, she continued, "His last advance was right after we had our dinner at that chinese restaurant. I refused him, and he's been nothing but degrading ever since."

"I see," he replied thoughtfully. That didn't sound like Tony at all. He had always been popular with the ladies, so he didn't have to force his way on anyone. The two used to hold contests on who could get a date the fastest. Tony nearly always won. He had a very laid back, disarming charm about him. His thoughts went to her service record, which he had to read when he was temporarily put in charge of the Warlord prior to the battle with the Rapier. "If you don't mind my asking," he started carefully, "when did he make these improper advances?"

She acted a little surprised. "The whole way home from Romulus, Sir." she replied with a quizzical look. "Surely you heard it. We sit right behind you."

Truth was, Kirk didn't pay much attention to the conversations around him during the trip home. His mind had been preoccupied rehashing the battle, the losses, his mistakes, and what he could have done differently. His mind swam with alternatives; better use of weaponry, better maneuvering, different crew assignments. Eavesdropping on their talks had been pretty low on his list of things to do. What little he could remember sounded innocent enough, however. "Actually, Davies, I really don't remember all the conversations you two had. I do remember the two of you talking a lot, though... but it sounded pretty harmless."

"He had ulterior motives for everything he said and asked, Sir." She offered pleadingly. "He was trying to play on my emotions!" She looked out the window behind Kirk's chair, watching the starlines move past. "Then, when he confronted me at the restaurant... that was just uncalled for." She shook her head.

Kirk remembered that conversation, well... most of it. He, T'Nia and Box were just a few steps behind them when they walked out. They were standing just inside the door when their discussion heated up. "And... things just got worse after that, right?" he asked inquisitively.

"Exactly, Sir." she answered, proud of the case she had built against Tony.

Kirk gently pounded the desk trying to think of how he would word his next few sentences. He squinted at the desk trying to focus his thoughts. Elaine stared at him intently, wondering what he was going to say next. Try as he might, he just couldn't think of a 'soft' way to speak his thoughts. He looked up at her with pained eyes. "Lieutenant, may I be completely honest with you?"

The question took her aback. "Sure, Sir," she replied almost instinctively.

He let out a deep breath. "If you want to pursue a formal inquiry on him after I say my peace, I'll do it without hesitation." She continued to look at him intently. Obviously, the words weren't coming easily for him. "I've known Tony Moreau for over ten years and while he's no knight in shining armor, he's a good guy." Her look of cynicism made him pause a moment. "He IS, Davies. He wears his heart on his sleeve sometimes, and he's always talking without thinking first... but that's him. He speaks his mind and he's straightforward. He doesn't manipulate people, especially women. He doesn't need to. Women just like him."

How could he be so blind to his own friend, she thought. She sat forward in her chair. "But, Sir..."

"Wait," he countered, holding his hands up, "hear me out." Cautiously, she sat back. "Jeez... there's just no easy way to say this..." He looked around, hoping to find some kind of inspiration from the room around him. Regretfully, there wasn't anything in the room other than the desk, two chairs, an empty bookshelf, an overhead light, and a window. Captain Bolerov hadn't considered decorating it a priority. "I looked at your personnel record," he stated solomnly. Kirk paused to give her a moment to determine what that meant.

Oh, no! she thought. Those were supposed to be personal! If he knew, who else knew? No wonder he didn't believe her! Memories of her previous assignments flooded her mind. Almost panicked, she stammered, "Why did you...?"

He knew this would be delicate. He tried to smile warmly to calm her. "I had to when I took command of the ship a month ago. It's Starfleet protocol for me to get to know the senior officers." She looked visibly pained. He tried to predict her next question. "Captain Velasquez read it, I read it, and Captain Bolerov read it... that's all... and we're not allowed to share it. Nobody else knows anything."

While that gave her some comfort, she couldn't help but feel she'd never be treated fairly in this matter, even though Commander Kirk was trying to sound kind. She feared Kirk would somehow use that information to blackmail her into silence... or worse. Her blue eyes welled up with tears that she tried desperately to hold back.

"Lieutenant," Kirk started slowly, "we've all made mistakes. There isn't a one of us on this ship that hasn't made a bad judgement call every now and then. You're not alone. Heck, some people think I belong in a stockade, not the first officer's chair." He smiled hopefully.

She looked up at him and managed a chuckle through the tears. She sniffed. "I bet you never caused a peace treaty to fail."

"Well, no," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "But I could tell you a few stories that could come close." She wiped a tear away that had started to fall. He folded his hands on the desk. "It's just that you've made some judgement errors before... as have we all." He waited a moment. She was about to offer a weak defense, but stopped. "I think you're making one now. I think you're reading way too much into the guy. I think if you got to know Tony, you'd find out that his attempt to be nice to you was just an attempt to be nice to you. I think that, if you give him a chance, you'll discover he's the best kind of friend you could have."

Although she wasn't completely convinced, some nagging voice in the back of her head was already agreeing with the commander. "Oh," she replied simply.

Hoping he had gotten through to her, he dared to ask the question. "Now, would you like to file charges against Lieutenant Tony Moreau and launch an inquiry?"

Her mind was completely confused. Was Kirk manipulating her, too? Had Tony been manipulating her? Had she really misjudged a man AGAIN? "No, Sir." she whispered finally.

Stephen let out an audible sigh of relief. "Okay," he started, his voice perking up a bit, "you've got another hour and a half on your shift. I'm not asking for miracles or anything... but can you and he just be professional towards each other?" She nodded. "I mean it... even if he says something stupid, I need you to be the better person. If he gets out of hand, I'll deal with him... but don't you fall into it." She nodded again. His voice became more official. "Do we understand each other, Lieutenant?"

She looked and sat up, wiping her other eye. "Yes, Sir." she replied with a semi-official tone. 

He started opening drawers looking for a tissue. Regretfully, even the drawers were bare. "Sheesh...sorry, I don't have any tissues for you."

She wiped her eyes one more time, then wiped her hands on her pants, somewhat embarassed that she let herself fall apart like that. "I think I can manage, Sir." she half smiled.

He smiled back. "Okay. When you're comfortable, you're dismissed."

"Thank you, Sir." She replied. After a few moments, she stood up, straightened her uniform top, and left. Stephen crumpled on the desk and let out a giant sigh. "Praise the Lord that's over," he said aloud. After several moments, he looked up at the ceiling. "Thank you, Lord, for letting that go smoothly." he said. He stood up, collected himself, and headed for the door. I am SO not meant for this stuff, he admitted. 


	10. Chapter 10

"So, do you know what's the matter with him?" Tony asked. He took a bite of his chicken sandwich.

T'Nia looked at Tony with a discerning eye from across the table in the officer's mess hall. "Tony," she started cautiously, setting down her spice tea, "Based on what you have said, I fail to see where Stephen acted inappropriately."

"You've got to be kidding." he quipped.

Her's was a look of mild curiosity as she considered him. "Are you certain you're not letting your emotions cloud your judgement again?"

"Huh?"

Her near photographic mind quickly began recalling incidents to explain her question. "Well, there was the time you were suspended for three days for striking a man you thought was kissing your date... which turned out to be the woman's brother." 

"Wait... that was an honest..."

T'Nia began counting with her fingers. "There was the time you locked yourself away for almost a week because you thought another girl was breaking up with you. It turned out she was merely leaving for Mars for a month and you misunderstood her letter."

"Her wording was strange. You said so yourself."

"There was the mall in New Paris, when you called the police because you swore a man was stalking you. He turned out to be a store clerk trying to get back the marking stylus you accidentally took."

"He could have just asked..." He suddenly remembered why picking an arguement with a vulcan was a dumb idea.

She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "As your friend I have cautioned you several times on letting your emotions dictate your actions. This time, your temper may have damaged your friendship with Stephen."

"Aw, come on..." Tony started. Now, he thought it was T'Nia making a mountain out of a molehill.

"You are placing Stephen in a very awkward position. He is now forced to measure your value as a friend against your behavior as a subordinate. Logic demands he place the ship's concerns over his friendships."

"It'll blow over, T'Nia. It always does. We've locked horns before... we're just like that. Besides, it's as much his fault as mine." Tony found himself actually thinking nostalgically over some of their past 'discussions'.

T'Nia was not amused. "It always 'blew over' because he was never part of your chain of command. Things change, Tony. You must learn to accept that, when you are both on duty, he is your superior before he is your friend. That is logical. If that's something you cannot accept, then you need to request a transfer. That is the logical alternative." She folded her hands on the table.

Tony thought a moment about that statement. Kirk had always had a higher rank then him... it was a product of the ServPref bill he used to get into the Academy. It had never bothered him until now. Was it because leadership was getting to Steve's head? Or was it because it was getting to his own? "Don't you find it a little... weird... sometimes? You know... he graduated with us. Now he's our superior officer. I helped him get through his systems design classes!" There were four other people in the hall with T'Nia and him. He looked around, noticing everyone was looking at him. He waved his arms. "Sorry!" he offered. "Go back to your meals." Slowly, the other patrons returned to eating.

Tony turned back to T'Nia, who was leaning in closer to him with a 'see what I mean?' look.

Mildly surprised, he remarked, "What?" When he realized he had let his emotions get the better of him again. "Well, it's just who I am." he answered weakly.

"I do not have a problem with Stephen being my superior. He earned it. It's why he's six years older than you. I keep my personal relationships separate from my professional relationships." She countered with another line of logic. "Has it occurred to you that I am also your superior officer?" She flicked the pips on her collar.

Actually, it hadn't. "No... not until now." He struggled in his mind to figure out why Steve's promotion bothered him, but T'Nia's didn't. He couldn't come up with an answer. "What the hell's wrong with me?" He asked.

"I believe that is the more appropriate question to ask." She concluded. 


	11. Chapter 11

Lieutenant Kelly had lost track of the number of hours or days he had been studying the schematics of the neutron cannons. He had begged a bottle of caffine stims from Doctor Rass to help him stay awake and focused. The doctor reluctantly conceded. As he popped another one in his mouth, followed by a cup of now-cold coffee, he saw there were only two pills left. Wonderful, he thought... another deadline. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what was wrong. He even took to climbing into a spacesuit a few days ago to take part of the pre-fire machanism apart. Everything was functioning perfectly. It was all within designed specifications. He had even gone so far as to physicially print a giant layout of the firing systems of the cannon and spread them out on the wall of the diagnostics room.

He was currently sharing the diagnostics room with Ensigns McAffery and P'rr's. Through the past week, however, pretty much everyone had come in. Everyone was drawing a blank. Tomorrow, Captain Bolerov was going to ask him once more what was wrong and, once again, he was going to have to say, "I don't know". Bolerov had already threatened to write him up. That was just more stress he didn't need. During this past week, Tom realized how much he missed the command style of Captain Velasquez. 

"Lieutenant," the sultry purring voice of the catian pulled him out of his daydream. They had become more frequent the past few days, obviously the result of his lack of sleep.

Kelly shook his head clear. "What is it, Ensign?" he already knew the answer, but maybe...

"The rrresults of the barrrium injection analysis shows negative." She said sadly.

"Damnit!" Tom pounded the table with his fist. "What IS it?" He put his hands to his head and returned to pacing. McAffery paused for a moment, then continued with his analysis, hoping to find what has been eluding his entire department for almost a month. "It's not the power, it's not the prefire agent, it's not the catalyst, it's not the accelerator... what fried the system?"

McAffery piped up. "It has to be one of those things, Sir. There has to be a few more tests we can try. Maybe this new subatomic structure analysis on the power cable will show us something." He tried to look hopeful, but he knew this was the fourth analysis done on the cabling. The other three had already turned up negative. His hopes and dreams of proving himself invaluable to his commander were fading fast with this problem.

"I appreciate your positive outlook, ensign." Tom replied with a weak smile. He pounded his head with his hands. "Arrgh! What am I missing?"

"Parrrdon me, Sirrr," P'rr's started, "why arrre we so surrre it has to be one of those things?" She had been looking at the same data as Tom for almost a week herself, but she was trying to look at it with fresh eyes.

Tom looked at her with appreciative but tired eyes. She was still very attractive to him, in an unusual, exotic way, but his committment to Corina had convinced him it was just infatuation. He took a deep breath. "The damage analysis says so. According to the records and the damage analysis, the breakdown started with the cabling, then continued to the barium containment system. That means it either drew more power than the cables could handle in the prefire system or the barium gas somehow leaked, fedback or misfired in the accelerator, causing a chain reaction in the system that led to the cables melting."

"Could something else have caused the cables to melt?" Her question was rhetorical.

"No. The inner housing is made of trellium E and the outer housing is tritanium. Everything else was outside the housing." Tom answered absently.

"Trrrellium is unstable, yes?"

"Trellium A and B are unstable." McAffery replied. "C, D, and E are fine." He shook his head. "And the outer hull is made of tritanium."

"Oh..." she whispered dejectedly. There had been an unofficial competition in the engineering section as to who would be Tom's 'right-hand person'. She had hoped, especially after their dinner conversation so long ago, that she would be the natural choice. It was a mixed blessing to discover so many other people in engineering were also quite skilled at their jobs. She slid down in the near corner, her knees to her chin. Tom and Cliff did their best not to stare at the rather 'unladylike' position P'rr's had put herself in.

There was something about her line of questioning, though. Some small spark of information came into Tom's head from the particle physics class he took so many years ago. He couldn't quite remember the details, but there was indeed something about the trellium refinement process that didn't sit well with the energy conversion process the cannon was using. He snapped his fingers towards P'rr's' direction. "She may have something there." He spun on his heel to the central table and pushed off the papers and PADDs. "Computer; display the refinement process for trellium C." Images began flashing across the small screen.

Though only a few minutes went by, it seemed like an eternity to both P'rr's and McAffery. Eventually, Lieutenant Kelly's eyes lit up. "Dear God... that can't be it... Computer; display the atomic makeup of both trellium B and trellium C." The two pictures, more resembling artwork than a molecular diagram, filled the screen. Tom tapped the screen, then quickly fell to the floor, quickly looking at PADDs, then tossing them aside. For a moment, McAffery and P'rr's considering asking him if he wanted help. They each decided it was in their best interests to stay out of the way. After tossing six PADDs aside, he apparently found the one he was looking for. He jumped back up, began thumbing through the PADDs contents, then held it up to the computer display on the table.

Ensigns P'rr's and McAffery dared a look at what Lieutenant Kelly was looking at. Neither one was much into particle physics, so what they were looking at left them largely clueless. Tom started laughing meniacally. He showed them the PADD. "Look!" He yelled. His antics caused a few other curious engineers to poke their heads into the room. Seeing their clueless smiles, he asked, "Don't you get it?" The two looked at the discharge analysis of the cannon on the PADD, then shook their heads. "Ha ha! Come on, P'rr's! It was YOUR idea! It's the barium isotope!" They continued looking clueless, but now Tom Kelly was drawing a large crowd. 


	12. Chapter 12

"So, when the barium isotope is accelerated into the kericite plasma, it pushes the neutrons out the exit chamber, but ionizes the trellium. At that heat, the ionized trellium temporarily destablized into trellium B, which overheated the cables underneath and eventually overheated the barium tubes." Kelly sat down, quite pleased with himself.

Seated with him in the conference room were Captain Bolerov, Commander Kirk, Lieutenant Commander T'Nia, Lieutenant Moreau and Lieutenant Davies. T'Nia thoughtfully contemplated Lieutenant Kelly's findings. Everyone else stared at him blankly. Eventually, Captain Bolerov spoke. "So... what you're saying is... you know why the cannons don't work?" His expression was quite quizzical.

"Yes!" Tom answered excitedly. "The agents used to fire the shot are momentarily melting the housing."

There was a general "Oh!" from the meeting participants followed by an eyeroll from T'Nia.

"So, can you fix this?" Bolerov asked.

Tom shook his head. "We can't make stuff that big here. We'll need to get a hold of Vega."

Bolerov shook his head. "Contact Utopia Planetia. They're bigger and closer. They'll get what you need faster."

"Aye, aye, Sir." Tom announced proudly.

Bolerov smiled, convinced that he was right; a little fire under the feet is a good thing. His expression became a bit more thoughtful. "What about our shield problems?"

Lieutenant Moreau spoke up. "Tom had me look into that, Sir. There was just a little glitch in the randomization program."

"What do you mean?" Andrei asked.

"Well, Sir, our shields randomize their frequencies, to make Borg adaptation more difficult. No one bothered putting any kind of a check in the programs to make sure the frequencies didn't cancel each other out. Because the frequencies randomize so quickly, the shields never had a change to fully negate each other, they'd just momentarily weaken. I put a check into the programs, so it's all good now." Tony smiled and nodded.

Bolerov clapped his hands and smiled. "This is wonderful! I'm not sure what we're going to do with a fully functional vessel." Everyone else smiled as well. "But, we are just in time. Lieutenant Kelly, if we reduced our charging percentage to 50, would that keep the cannons from overheating?"

Kelly thought for a moment. "It would probably take awhile for the trellium to restabilize, but they shouldn't overheat to the point of nonuse, Sir."

"Or explode, I hope." The captain winked at him. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. We reach the neutral zone in three hours. Get your rest while you can. We will need all primary officers on deck once we cross."

"Captain," Kirk started, "I had an idea."

The captain raised an eyebrow. "Let's hear it."

"I was just wondering if we could use the sensor mask to become the Devoras for the reat of the trip. The real Devoras could fly behind us cloaked."

The idea intrigued Andrei, but he wanted to hear Kirk out. "You would have us looking for trouble, eh, Commander?" he asked, his eyebrow still raised.

Kirk gave him a sly look. "Not at all, Sir. But... if someone ELSE is out there looking for trouble, I'd rather they find us than the people we're supposed to be protecting."

THAT answer satisfied Bolerov. He smiled wryly as well. "I like it. Commander T'Nia, give Lieutenant Moreau deep sensor scans of the Devoras. Lieutenant, make the necessary preparations. Then, the two of you take a rest. I'll explain to our romulan counterparts what we're about to do." The russian captain chuckled. "This ought to scare the hell out of anyone attempting an assasination attempt. Dismissed." 


	13. Chapter 13

The oversized view of Kolvash's face on the main view screen emphasized his confused expression. "I'm sorry, Captain. You're going to have to explain to me what this sensor mask is going to do."

Bolerov let out a deep sigh. "It's really quite simple, Commander. Our sensor mask allows us to mimic the physical characteristics of another object. In this case, we make Warlord look like the Devoras."

"I thought Federation cloaking technology was limited to some ship at Deep Space Nine." Commander Kolvash countered with a raised eyebrow. Truly, he was becoming suspicious.

Bolerov shook his head slowly. "This isn't cloaking technology. We're not trying to make ourselves invisible. We're covering our true appearance to look like something else."

Subcommander Tolkaan appeared next to Kolvash. "That is a hundred times worse!" He was quite irate. "Using this masking technology, you could start a war between the romulans and the klingons. Our own sensors wouldn't know the difference! This is an outrage!"

Kolvash regarded his officer with an icy gaze. "You are dismissed, Subcommander."

Tolkaan glared at him for a moment, wondering why his commanding officer wasn't as upset by this as him. Kolvash's gaze remained cold, but became more intense. Raising his hand, he eventually replied, "Glory to the Empire!" and left.

"My apologies for my second in command's outburst. He will be disciplined." The romulan commander eventually returned his gaze to the main viewscreen. "But surely you can see the cause of our alarm. We were not told of this ability before."

Bolerov smiled wryly. "The need to tell you hasn't arisen before." He shrugged. "I don't see the problem. We're offering to withstand the brunt of any Reman attack at no risk to you whatsoever. From your chair, this should seem like a great deal."

Commander Kolvash tilted his head. "For this engagement, it certainly does. You must admit, though, there is a bigger picture here. Your vessel could come into our territory completely unrecognized... it... it... completely destabilizes the entire quadrant!"

Bolerov's eyes narrowed. "The entire Romulan fleet has had the ability to do the same thing for over a century, Commander. In the end, your people asked the Federation to 'live with it'. We have. Now... our technology has finally caught up. It is now your turn to live with it." His smile was almost evil.

Ambassador Donatra's face came next to Kolvash's. "This arguing isn't getting either of us any closer to Romulus, gentlemen." She looked sternly at the russian commander. Clearly, she had some kind of authority in this matter that wasn't easily discerned. "Captain Bolerov, please do whatever you deem necessary to ensure our safe passage. We will cloak and follow behind. Hopefully, nothing will happen to either ship. I hope you realize what you may be faced with." Her expression appeared to be of geniune concern.

"Trust me," Andrei concluded. "the Remans are incapable of mounting any kind of credible threat against this ship." 

Kolvash scoffed. Donatra squinted, trying to discern any kind of bluff or lie in the Federation captain's eyes. She could find none. Clearly, this new masking technology would have to be reported to the Romulan senate. But... that was for another time. Besides, could this vessel truly be that advanced? After all, she commanded the IRW Valdore and the IRW Tal to help the Enterprise with the Scimitar. In the end, Enterprise was a wreck, the Valdore was a wreck, and the Tal was destroyed. Somehow, the Warlord had gone against the Scimitar's sister ship by itself and come out victorius. Such a vessel could seriously disrupt the balance of power.

Captain Bolerov turned back to Tony. "Lieutenant, engage the sensor mask. It's time to become the Devoras."

"Aye, aye, Sir." Tony replied officially. His fingers danced over the console. Several seconds later, he replied, "It's done, Sir."

Kolvash looked at something out of range of the viewscreen. His eyes widened with disbelief. "By the gods," he muttered. Ambassador Donatra was also agape. "Even our tight scans say it's the Devoras."

"The best part is; we can run with shields up... and people scanning us will never know." Bolerov sat back in his chair triumphantly.

Kolvash was stunned with what he was seeing. He even ran to a window to see with his own eyes. He was staring at the Devoras, a Romulan warbird. It even had the same paint chip to the left of the forward torpedo launchers. He walked back to the view screen. "Does that image reflect damage, or is it just a picture?"

"It's fully interactive, Commander." This was too good. He couldn't have written the romulans reaction any better. "As we pass by a sun, the image shimmers. As we pass behind an asteroid, it darkens. If someone fires at it, it simulates damage." He gave the romulans time to process the magnitude of what he just said. Calmly, he concluded, "I believe it's time for you to cloak now. Put at least a hundred thousand kilometers between us. In the event of a conflict, I don't want your ship in danger. We wouldn't want a stray torpedo hitting your vessel while it was cloaked." Absently, still in shock, Commander Kolvash nodded to his science officer. Within moments, the true Devoras disappeared from sensors. "We will run silent until we reach Romulus. Warlord out."

Aboard the cloaked Devoras, the viewscreen switched to a scene of stars and the Warlord/Devoras in the center. For so long, the Romulans had prided themselves on their technology. They had always been a step ahead of the Federation. Yet, as the years progressed, the Federation steadily caught up. Now, Kolvash and Donatra stared at an image of their own ship, masking the USS Warlord. If this starship was truly fully functional, the Valdore would be no match for it.

Nothing would... 


	14. Chapter 14

"Captain's Log, stardate 56970.7: We have entered the Neutral Zone disguised as the IRW Devoras. The real Devoras is approximately a hundred thousand kilometers behind us. We are approximately two days from completing our first official mission. Our tachyon emitters are currently powered down but our primary shields are running. So far, all is quiet."

They had flown almost eight hours at warp six without incident. Tony was busy sifting through lines of code trying to determine why the intruder restraining system didn't neutralize the romulan devices. Elaine was scanning various frequencies, listening for any kind of transmissions that could give away a possible enemy location. Tom was passively switching between various engine status views, both pleased and bored with the numbers. Tyler was rapping his fingers against the navigation console, daydreams of starships exploding right and left as he gingerly dodged between them. Stephen spent his time mentally listing the places he'd rather be and why while loyally sitting at the first officer's chair. T'Nia spent her time pouring over various short and mid range sensor scans. Boredom was beginning to set in, and in Stephen's case, fatigue. He had only gotten a two hour nap, since he had been covering second shift.

Everyone was snapped to the present when the proximity alarm went off. "Report!" Bolerov shouted above the alarm.

T'Nia quickly examined the sensors. "Single D'deridex class romulan warbird has just decloaked off the forward starboard bow, Sir."

"I wonder what..." Bolerov started.

"Their weapons are armed and have achieved target lock." T'Nia continued.

"Well, that settles that. Lieutenant Moreau, have the Devoras attempt to raise shields." Bolerov added with a smile.

Tony was turning back when T'Nia broke in. "Another warbird has decloaked above us. Their weapons are arming as well."

"Well," Captain Bolerov began, "Romulans typically travel in groups of threes. I guess we'll see if the Remans follow their strategy."

Suddenly, missile fire streaked across the main viewscreen. A hair behind the vision came the voice of T'Nia, "Captain, they're..."

"...firing!" Lieutenant Kelly Bosa's voice was panicked. The bridge of the USS Vigilant rocked with the impact.

Bolerov did his best to remain calm. "Mr. Bosa, where is the attacking Dominion ship?"

"She's high on our six, Sir!" Bosa replied hurriedly.

"Shall I take evasive action?" Lieutenant Commander Aaron O'Neill asked from behind the navigation console.

Bolerov didn't even need time to consider the question. "No," he replied quickly. "Stay with the Hood. Lieutenant Iieria, return fire."

The Deltan tactical officer replied, "Yes, Sir."

Lieutenant Bosa yelled, "They're firing again!"

"Brace for impact!" Bolerov stood up and yelled.

"Sir?" Kirk questioned.

"What?" Bolerov looked around and shook his head. The mental image of the Vigilant had faded but his heart was still racing. Slowly, he sat back down. "My apologies. I guess old habits die hard." He offered a smile with his defense.

"Sir," Kirk asked with a questioning eye, "how long do you want us to keep up the ruse? Do you want us to return fire?"

"We need to wait and see if there's a third, Commander," Bolerov replied calmly as he sat back down.

"Captain, we already saw the third. It decloaked right behind the second one."

"Right," Bolerov replied. "We... need to ensure all three are together. Once they believe our vessel is crippled, they should either close for the kill, or close to board." He turned to T'Nia. "Are the weapons armed?"

"Armed and ready, Sir." she replied. Her's was a look of curiosity as well. "Cannons charged to fifty percent."

"Excellent." Bolerov replied. "What is the status of our shields?" His mind had begun to shake free of the hauntingly real image of the Vigilant bridge.

T'Nia switched screens on her console. "Our primary shields are holding at eighty-nine percent."

Bolerov nodded. At this rate, all three warbirds could fire at them for over an hour before they'd have to worry. "Lieutenant Moreau, what is the status of our Devoras mask?"

He had been staring at the computer readout ever since the first vessel decloaked. "According to the hits we took, our cloak should be down, our shield generators are failing, forward torpedo tubes are down, life support below deck seven are minimal, and we've lost our starboard drive. Shields at eighteen percent. We're getting clobbered, Sir." Tony added with a smile.

"Very good. We're just about done for." Bolerov said with a smile. Hopefully, his crew was regaining confidence in him. "Either they'll close in together to finish us off, or they'll close in together to board us. We'll wait for a lull in their attack." Andrei sat forward in his seat at T'Nia. "Commander, get ready for a broad spectrum tachyon burst. We'll have to fire quickly or at least one will get away. Put a cannon into two of them, then destroy the third with our secondary weapons."

T'Nia nodded her compliance. "Aye, aye, Sir." She began punching in the information, switched screens on her console, then continued putting in information.

Bolerov looked on at T'Nia's console disapprovingly. He leaned over to Kirk and lowered his voice. "Put this on your list, Commander. She's doing too much. If this were a more desperate situation, we would be in sorry shape. Combining the sensor station with the tactical station sounded good in theory, but in practice, it stinks."

"Understood, Captain," Kirk began. "Sir..." his voice became more inquisitory. "will the cannons at fifty percent take out a romulan warbird?" His voice was low. He knew how the captain hated being questioned or contradicted in front of the crew.

Bolerov smiled. "Commander," he whispered back, "those cannons were designed to destroy a Borg cube. A thirty year old D'deridex-A warbird is almost an insult." He held his pointer finger up. "Remember, Commander... I was part of the design committee for this ship. I know her capabilities better than you..." he chuckled, "when it's functioning properly."

"Captain," Tony started, "our shields have collapsed and main power is out."

"They have ceased firing, Sir." T'Nia added.

Bolerov rubbed his hands together. "I believe this game of playing possum is just about over. Lieutenant Moreau, get ready to drop the mask. Commander T'Nia, prepare for the tachyon burst. You'll need to move quickly to fire on them while they figure out what what gave away their position." Bolerov suddenly had an idea. "Wait!"

Everyone froze.

He snapped his fingers. "T'Nia, don't destroy the third ship. Render is helpless. I believe the romulans will be very curious to see what and who is aboard these ships."

"Yes, Sir." she answered. Quickly, her mind began rethinking her firing strategy. Due to the greatly enhanced nature of the secondary weapons, she wouldn't be able to use previous experience with torpedoes and phasers as a reference. Thankfully, logic prevented her from the panic that would normally accompany a human with last-minute tactical changes. She dropped several torpedoes and most of the pulse phasers from the firing solution. She switched screens to the science console and waited.

There was a momentary pause. It seemed like hours. "Get ready..." Captain Bolerov slowly rose from his seat. Instinct would take over now. He silently counted in his head how long it would take the three vessels to communicate with each other and make their final approach. It was going to be an educated guess, but he wanted the Warlord to fire at point-blank range. The warbirds would never have a chance to escape the barrage. "Ready..." he repeated. "Burst first, then drop the mask, then let them have it."

There was another pause.

"Now!" 


	15. Chapter 15

Commander Lenethrix sat back in his command chair, contemplating the events leading up to their current position. After seeing the condition of the Devoras, he could afford a few moments of reflection. It wasn't going anywhere. These old-style romulan warbirds had certainly come in handy, even if they were too bright. It had taken over a week to remove enough overhead lighting to where the reman crew could be comfortable.

Secretly, he couldn't stand the thought of using romulan warships. The Scimitar had proven, without question, the superiority of reman technology. Still, with the Scimitar and Rapier's defeat, they were forced to use what they could get their hands on. Of greater concern to him was his proud race's reliance on traitors within their enemy's midst to provide these ships. Romulans are underhanded, despicable, backstabbing bloodsnails, but they're not traitors, he concluded weeks ago. There was a reason why romulans were willing to supply them with these ships and it had nothing to do with improving the conditions on Remus. The reman leadership was playing a dangerous game with their enemy. He hoped it wouldn't come back to haunt them.

At least this vessel will be acquired properly, he thought. A twisted smile crossed his drawn, gray face, allowing his front six fangs to be visible. The Devoras would be theirs by the enemy's defeat, not through bargaining. The added bonus, of course, would be the capture of the romulan Donatra. It was her betrayal of their Praetor that allowed Enterprise enough time to defeat him. All hopes of a swift victory had vanished with the destruction of their flagship and the death of their first Praetor. Revenge against Commander Donatra would be slow and satisfying. Obviously, their first attack pattern had been so successful, the Devoras couldn't even mount a counterattack.

Lenethrix turned his head slightly towards his communications crewman. "Patch me through to the others." His voice was rocky and low.

Thankfully, as part of reman upbringing, they had all been taught how to read and speak romulan. He deftly tapped the keys on his panel. "I have them, Commander."

The commander nodded approvingly. "This is the Bloodlust. Move in. Have your boarding groups transport once we're within two thousand ucere. Remember, if you find Donatra, don't kill her. Bring her to me. Go." He rubbed his clawed hands together. "Helm, ahead one half. Close to two thousand ucere."

After a few button clicks, the warbird slowly closed in on its pray. The image of the sparking, smoking Devoras slowly filled the screen. "Boarding groups, stand by to transport!" Lenetrix laughed out loud. He has finally begun exacting his revenge on the arrogant, romulan pigs. For all the years he spent in the poisoned dilithium mines, for the years he spent as a slave fighter for that fat, pompous senator, for the months of imprisonment and torture he endured for losing a match, his thirst for vengeance was finally being satiated.

"Commander!" The sensor operator yelled. "We've just been hit by a tachyon beam!"

This information was confusing. Romulan warbirds weren't equipped with tachyon emitters. "From where?" He asked, his voice raised. Could it be there was another ship, cloaked, nearby?

"It came from the Devoras!" the operator yelled.

"How is that..." Lenethrix forgot his question when the image of the partly destroyed Devoras shimmered and waved away. Within moments, the image was replaced by something that should have been impossible. The ship in its place looked to be of Federation design, but much larger than anything he had ever seen. Clearly, it was at least the same size as a warbird. Its dual-tone gray exterior displayed the wording 'NCC 76032' and 'USS Warlord'. The nose of the ship was pointed directly at them. They had fired multiple disruptor and torpedo volleys in that area, yet this new ship appeared to be completely undamaged. The reman commander yelled to the large bridge area, "Sensors! What IS that?"

The sensor operator shrugged. "I can't tell, Commander. Whatever it is, their shields are preventing me from scanning it."

Then, the image of this new Federation ship changed slightly. Blisters on either side of the main hull began to glow green. Lenetrix's eyes grew wide.

The sensor operator looked up from his controls. "I think they're firing..." 


	16. Chapter 16

The bridge crew of the cloaked Devoras watched as streams of green globes shot from sides of the Warlord into what appeared to be open space. Regretfully, because neither romulan vessel had a chance to decloak, their shields were down. The cannon shots impacted the unprotected, but invisible warbirds without resistance. As neutron ball after neutron ball slammed mercilessly into the respective hulls, the impacts caused eerie green colored silhouettes. The streams of globes continued deeper into the hulls, causing silent explosions to light the nearby space. Eventually, the cloaks failed and the two warbirds became visible. Secondary explosions shot sections of the ships everywhere. The two flanking ships were eventually consumed in a greenish yellow fireball. The remainder of the green globes continued through into space unabated.

Moments later, from above and behind the Warlord, four short, brilliant beams of red followed large, two purple projectiles, again, apparently into open space. Although the purple torpedoes looked similar in color to the quantum torpedoes Kolvash had seen during the Dominion War, these were significantly larger. The beams reminded him of the pulse phasers that had proven so deadly to opposing ships. The torpedoes slammed into the third cloaked warbird as it was decloaking, its shields still down. The bottom third of the front of the warbird crumpled in on itself. With surgical precision, the beams sliced into the forward bow, the center bow, the bottom aft section, and the top left aft section, rendering shields, engines, cloak, and weapons useless.

The romulan bridge crew stared at their viewscreen speachless as the fight between the Warlord and three cloaked romulan warbirds ended in less than ten seconds. Two warbirds were completely destroyed, the third quite thoroughly neutralized... and the Warlord looked completely untouched. This was an aspect of Starfleet the romulans never thought they would see.

Eventually, still stunned, Commander Kolvash leaned over to Ambassador Donatra, who was sitting next to him. "I don't suppose the Valdore is capable of that kind of display..." he whispered.

Still staring at the viewscreen, she barely shook her head. "Not even close." 


	17. Chapter 17

Lieutenant Davies switched the viewscreen to show the image of the warbird behind them just as the phaser beams impacted it. Four small explosions dotted the hull of the ship. "Nice shooting, Lieutenant Commander." Captain Bolerov graciously complimented. "How did you do?"

T'Nia switched screens on her console again. "Their main power is offline." She continued interpreting the numbers and images in front of her. "Their cloak is inoperative, the weapons systems are inactive, and the shield generator has been destroyed. All targets hit, Captain." Her voice was almost robotic. A lesser person would have taken pride in their ability to change control systems, match targets to scanner results, and fire four perfectly targetted weapons in under ten seconds. As far as she was concerned, she was simply doing her job.

"Perfect shooting, Commander! Thank you." Bolerov was simply beaming. By his estimations, that little display of firepower should have given certain shipful of romulan bystanders something to think about.

"Dropping the mask really wasn't necessary, Captain." Kirk commented. "We could have fired just as easily with the mask still up."

"I was going for shock value. It would seem I got it." Bolerov smiled as he replied. He was looking to not only impress the romulans, but his own crew. That momentary lapse might have shaken it a bit. Andrei allowed his mind to dwell on the phantom memory for just a moment. Why did it happen? It had been five years ago. He had been officially cleared by a Starfleet psychologist. Why would he have that memory? No matter. He would get over it. Those kinds of memories wouldn't get in his way any longer. Andrei couldn't afford to let those memories come back. "Lieutenant Moreau, reset the mask. There may be other assassins about." He added, snapping out of his mental self-discussion.

"Aye, aye, Sir." Tony replied. He spun around in his chair.

"Captain," T'Nia started. 

"Yes?" He turned back around.

T'Nia was rapidly attempting to discern the strange readings she was getting from the damaged warbird. Still attempting to discern the cause, she answered, "There is some kind of energy buildup in the warbird's engineering section."

It only took a moment for the seasoned veteran to come to a conclusion. "They've set the self-destruct. Apparently, they don't want us getting on that ship." His voice became resolute. "Liutenant Commander, how much time to we have?"

She was still making calculations. Sensor readings were not her strong suit. Neither was interpreting energy patterns for a quantum singularity drive. "I am still working on the calculations, Sir. One moment."

Tom, sitting behind the captain, was also looking at the readouts. Being more familiar with quantum mechanics, looked quickly at the rising output and offered a guess. "I'd say four and a half minutes, maybe a little less."

Captain Bolerov needed to know how the remans got a hold of romulan warbirds. He also didn't want to trust that information to the romulans behind him. He turned quickly to Kirk. "We need that ship intact, Commander. Stop that countdown."

Stephen couldn't have heard him properly. "Sir?" he questioned.

"Commander, take whoever you need and whatever you need and stop that self destruct." Bolerov's voice remained calm, but quite determined. His eyes locked intently on his first officer.

T'Nia finally got the calculations she was looking for. "The drive system will explode in four minutes, twenty-two seconds... mark." She turned to look at Tom, who breathed on his fingertips, then rubbed his shirt.

Stephen was a little in shock at the order. There were no marines on board... not even a security detail. They had less than half their crew, which would only be two-hundred eighty if completely manned. Compare that to a maximum crew of fifteen hundred on a D'deridex warbird and they'd still be hopelessly outnumbered, even with the damage they endured. Since the self destruct was set, that probably meant there were remans alive in engineering... a race known for their superior combat skills. His options were running out. His eyes darted from place to place on the bridge, instinctively trying to find something that would trigger another idea. 

Stephen's eyes eventually fell back on the captain, who had grown impatient. "Go!" He yelled.

Stephen jumped up. An idea was forming in his head. He looked at Tom. "Tom, I need you to get me some stun grenades from an armory and meet me in transporter room one," he said emphatically. He headed for the turbolift door.

Lieutenant Kelly was momentarily stunned, but his mind quickly understood why he was selected. He stood quickly to follow, then had an unfortunate recollection. "Commander, the armories are empty. We've only got a handful of hand phasers scattered about the ship."

Kirk rolled his eyes. There goes that option... maybe there was another. "Tony!" he yelled. He pointed to Tom. "Grab a PADD that understands romulan computer and head to transporter room one on the double."

Tony looked at his friend, turned superior officer, pleadingly... but Kirk was already looking back to Kelly. Grimly, he got up, grabbed a PADD from under his console and tapped a few controls on its face. 

Kirk was back to Tom. "Grab three phasers and get to transporter room one... quick!" Hopefully, Doctor Rass would be able to supply an alternative to the first part of his plan.

"Right!" Tom replied excitedly. He shot for the turbolift and was gone with the hiss of the door.

Kirk tapped his comm badge. "Kirk to Doctor Rass."

The badge popped with the almost bored voice of the doctor. "Rass here. Is the fight over?"

Kirk was getting quite impatient that he couldn't voice his needs quickly enough. "Yes... I need your help. I need something that will knock out a bunch of remans quickly in a container that will break easily. And I need it fast." He headed for the turbolift door.

The doctor's voice replied, "A decent enough concentration of anesthezine gas should do the trick. Exactly when do you need it?"

"Thirty seconds, unless you can secure it faster." Kirk replied as he impatiently tapped his foot waiting for the turbolift car to come to the door.

"You're joking, right?" Rass replied with a chuckle.

"No, doctor, I'm not. I need it now, and in something that will break." The turbolift door opened. "Tony... let's go!"

Tony looked up from his PADD. Everything he needed had finished downloading. Slowly he looked up at his friend and the open turbolift door. He was about to transport aboard a damaged romulan warbird crawling with angry reman warriors with a self destruct set to go off in four minutes. So much for the reasonbly safe desk job. Tony headed with Stephen into the turbolift. He had wanted to talk to Elaine one more time, just never found the chance. He had wanted to clear the air with Steve. Now, faced with a mission he'd probably never live through, his heart weighed heavily.

Elaine watched as the two walked into the turbolift. She forced back tears as she realized she really did like him. She wanted to pull him back. She actually felt compelled to take his place. There was so much she wanted to say, but never found the words... or the humility. Under her breath, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

The turbolift door closed with a hiss. 


	18. Chapter 18

Doctor Rass tapped his comm badge and shot a concerned glance at the EMH seated across from him. On the table between them was a chess board. If the speed with which that battle was over was an indicator of things to come, Dorrin was liable to learn this game pretty well. The two doctors stood quickly. Doctor Rass raced over to the medical synthesizer and started pulling tubes from the top of the domed device. He pressed a few buttons on the front panel, then pressed a few more on a wall panel behind it.

The EMH looked on curiously. "Is this how things normally work around here?" the tall, thin, curly-haired hologram asked inquisitively.

Dorrin grunted impatiently, "I dunno." He motioned to the equipment locked to his left. "Find me a large, glass container."

The EMH walked over to the locker. "How large a container do you want?"

Dorrin rolled his eyes. "The largest one you can find with an airtight lid!" He began plugging tubes into the synthesizer from the ceiling. "Toss me a dispenser tube, too... with a two millimeter needle on the end."

The EMH pulled down an envelope from the top shelf and tossed it to Rass. "You could at least say 'please'."

What nerve, Dorrin thought. He was already mad at 'Hal' because he had obviously been cheating at the prior chess game. While treating a minor burn injury, one of the maintenance crew had nicknamed the EMH 'Hal'. It was some reference to an old Earth transmission Dorrin had never seen. The reference was completely lost on him. If the EMH understood the reference, he wasn't admitting it. "How about you find me the container I asked for?" he snipped.

After several more seconds of poking around, Hal found something in the back that might work. "How about a two liter beaker?"

Doctor Rass had hooked up the output tube and was ready. "Perfect. Is there a rubber stopper with a center hole for the top?"

After a little more digging, Hal found the filling stopper. "Yep... right here."

Rass motioned with his hands. "Here... hand it over quickly... and get me a hazmask."

The EMH handed over the beaker and lid, then searched around for a mask. "Bark, bark, bark... that's all you do to me. I AM a fully trained and accreditted physician, you know." He found the mask and handed it over.

After putting a tube in the middle hole and poking the needle through the rubber, he shot the EMH a narrowed glance. Dorrin snatched the mask from the EMH. "Look... once I'm dead you can play doctor." He said sarcastically while putting on the mask. "Until then... you're Nurse Hal. Got it?" With the press of a final button, the beaker began slowly filling with a pale green gas. Hal rolled his eyes.

The doctor's comm badge popped. "Kirk to Doctor Rass... how's my knockout grenade coming?" the voice sounded mildly stressed and impatient.

Rass pressed his badge. "It's filling now. It should be done in just a few seconds. What do you want me to do with it?"

"Just put it on the floor next to you, Doc." Kirk's voice replied. "I'll have the transporter chief site-to-site it into the engine room of the romulan ship." There was a pause. "Will this knock out an engine room full of remans?"

In the background, Doctor Rass could hear Tony's voice ask, "You pick NOW to ask that question?"

The question took Dorrin a bit off guard. "Well... there's enough pure anesthezine in here to pretty much knock out this entire ship, if it got into the vents. Since remans breathe oxygen like the rest of us, it'll affect them. The question will be how long."

"I only need it for a couple of minutes, while we disable their auto destruct, Doc."

"This should do the trick, then. Oh!" Dorrin snapped his fingers at the EMH to get his attention. "You're going to need masks. How many people are in your team?"

The EMH understood, though he didn't appreciate the finger snap. He turned back to the locker to get masks.

"Just three of us, Doc. Good thinking."

The doctor's eyes bulged while the EMH retrieved the masks. "Just three of you?" He gulped.

"We go in, stop the auto destruct, we leave. I'm waiting at the transporter, Doc. Is it done?"

Rass looked at the beaker. The last of the regular air was escaping out the top. He pressed a button to stop the gas flow, pushed a piece of putty against the evacuation tube, then removed the needle. He placed the large beaker on the floor next to him. "Hal, put the masks on the floor. Commander, it's ready."

"Thanks, Doc." the commander's voice replied. Kirk's voice continued talking. "Wilson, transport the beaker in the middle of the engineering section of the romulan vessel, two and a half meters above the ground. Beam the masks here."

"Aye, Sir," another disembodied voice replied. Within moments, the beaker and the masks were shrouded in silvery white lights. With a flash, they were gone.

"Commander," Dorrin started, "you should give the gas thirty to forty seconds to permeate the room before heading over."

"I'm not sure I have that much time, but thanks for everything. Kirk out."

Doctor Rass continued staring at the floor where the beaker was. He hoped this plan of Stephen's would work. 


	19. Chapter 19

The blinding sparkle of the trasporter beam faded. In preparation for a possible attack, they were already kneeling and pointing their hand phasers three different directions. What they weren't counting on was the reman's love of darkness. They could barely see in front of their faces, with the combination of no overhead lights, smoke, anesthezine gas, and flashing yellow alert lights. An irritating, high-pitched siren reminded them of their mission. The three squinted hard to adjust to the minimal lighting in the cavernous room.

"Can you see anybody?" Tony whispered to Stephen, his voice almost panicked. He quickly darted his phaser to and fro.

Kirk was a bit more calm, considering their situation. "Not a thing." As his eyes adjusted, he saw two large reman soldiers on the ground in front of him. He stood up and carefully made his way over to them. He nudged one with his foot. "Looks like the gas got them." He announced. "Get moving." He pointed over to a large column of green and brown lights near the center of the room. "I assume that's the main drive system. I'm going to look around."

Tony and Tom hurried over to the containment system. It was a large, cylindrical structure not totally dissimilar from their own anti-matter containment system, except this was larger. Around the base of the structure was a set of computer panels that ran the diameter of the system. "Help me find a way to access the computer." Tony asked quickly as he bent down and began searching for an access panel.

"Right." Lieutenant Kelly started looking around for the main computer terminal. Hopefully, there would be some kind of auxiliary access under or next to it.

Stephen pressed his comm badge. "Kirk to Warlord."

He heard the familiar pop. "Warlord, Bolerov here. What's your status?"

As Stephen's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see at least a dozen reman bodies fast asleep on the floor. He could also see a considerable amount of debris from the walls. A good chunk of the ceiling had caved in as well, providing chunks of debris large enough to hide behind, if necessary. "We're on board. They're working on connecting to the computer. What's our time?" His voice was quick, but calm. The last thing he needed to do now was panic. Deep inside, he wanted to yell at his captain for putting him, and other, in grave danger on such a foolish mission. Surely the romulans in the nearby warbird were better capable of handling this. If they want the information on this ship so badly, why aren't THEY here? He was tempted to let Moreau and Kelly fumble around for a few seconds, then declare they couldn't do it.

T'Nia's voice popped in. "You have two minutes, five seconds, Commander." Her voice seemed calm on the surface, but Stephen knew her well enough to know when she was worried, even though she'd never admit it.

"Lieutenant Commander T'Nia will keep in contact with you. Please advise when you have new information. Bolerov out." His voice seemed almost cold and uncaring.

"I think I found the access panel," Tony exclaimed. "I can't open it, though."

Tom rushed around and pulled out his phaser, dropping it several levels. "Step aside." He stated flatly.

Tony was shocked. "What are you doing? You don't have to blast the door, you know!" Still, to be on the safe side, he moved away.

Tom stared at him. "It's not like they're gonna kill us less if we're neat." With that, he shot the door, which flew off in a shower of sparks. The two dove for the open access and began pulling cables.

Stephen continued carefully stepping through the obstacle-laden floor. He was looking for the door to engineering. As his eyes continued to adjust, he could see the outline of a double door immediately in front of him. A glowing control panel rested on the wall near it. He briefly listened at the door, but heard nothing.

"Okay, I'm hooked in." said Tony. He let out a sigh of relief. "Whew... it's romulan. My PADD can translate it."

"I'm gonna see if I can figure out how to eject the core." Kelly added. "There has to be some kind of mechanism for that somewhere."

Kirk looked down at his badge. "T'Nia, time?"

Her voice replied quickly, "One minute, forty seconds. What is your status?"

"Tony's in their computer system. Tom's trying to eject the core. I'm..." he pressed the button to the door, which slid open slowly, with a loud, grinding noise. "checking to make sure we're..."

From down the hall, he could hear voices. "M'than ter hor-ik ne!" The green ray of A disruptor blast impacted the wall next to him, forcing him to stagger backwards to avoid the sparks.

Kirk quickly stepped back inside engineering and pressed the button again. Slowly, the door shut. Kirk could see remans racing for the door, disruptor pistols in hand. Kirk fired a shot between the doors. "We're trying to KEEP your ship from blowing up, you know!" he yelled at the door. His reply was another green disruptor ray firing between the closing doors that narrowly missed his ear. Instintively, he felt it to make sure it was still attached. It was quite warm to the touch. When the door closed, he aimed his phaser at the door control and fired. The control panel exploded. "That oughta hold you." He said with a nod.

Despite the noise of the alarm and the steam, Stephen heard that same grinding noise of the engineering double doors in the distance. His eyes bulged. "Crap... there are two doors into engineering!" he yelled. As quickly as he could, he ran to the other side of the room. "Guys, get down! Company's coming!"

Tom ducked down behind what he had guess was the main engineering terminal. Despite the fact it was all in romulan, he recognized enough of the symbols to guess his way into the security systems. He was quite proud of himself for getting as far as he did. However, the flashing, changing red symbols in perfect rhythm to the symbols surrounding a picture of the core quickly deflated him. "I think the core ejection system is tied to the countdown! It knows it's on self destruct, so it won't launch the core!" He yelled at Tony.

Tony ducked under the core control panel. He wasn't faring any better. "I got to the command routines and found the self destruct, but it looks like there are a pair of codes necessary to override it! It'll take me hours to figure them out!"

Green disruptor fire had already streaming into engineering as Stephen closed on the second set of doors. He began firing madly at the point of origin of the beams. He shot two remans who had already made it into the room, incapacitated from the heavy stun setting. The others cautiously backed away from the door, giving Stephen the moment he needed to press the button and close them. He continued firing until the door had closed. Then, he shot that control panel as well. He leaned against the wall and let out a deep breath.

T'Nia's voice came across his badge. "Commander, you now have one minute, ten seconds. What is happening?"

Still breathing heavily, he replied, "Let's see... we've got a shipload of angry remans just outside of engineering, a self-destruct we can't turn off and a core we can't eject... did I miss anything?" He asked to the other two, who were standing back up. They shook their heads and returned to their respective computer panels. "Nope... I didn't miss anything." Just then, he heard a hissing sound next to him. He turned to see a narrow, but bright white beam streaming through a small point in the double doors next to him. "Correction," he said into the badge, "the remans aren't just outside... they're burning their way in." 


	20. Chapter 20

Captain Bolerov's voice popped over the communicator. "Just say the word, Commander, and we'll pull you back out. If it can't be saved, it can't be saved."

Kirk was about to ask for extraction when Kelly had an idea. "Wait a sec! Tony, can you break the connection between the safety module and the self-destruct module? If you can sever the link, the safety protocol should register the core overload like it's supposed to and eject the core by itself."

Tony shrugged. "Let me look." He began tapping at his PADD like mad.

"Take your time," Stephen remarked sarcastically. Even with the visual challenges, he could see the white pin-light of a cutting torch burning through the door across the room, too. The remans would be through both doors in just a few seconds.

"Commander, you have forty-five seconds." T'Nia stated. Her voice was ever-so-slightly raised. It probably wasn't even discernable to anyone but her closest friends. She was getting worried.

"Commander," Bolerov began. His voice was quite worrysome. "can you do it or not? Tell me now or I'm pulling you out of there."

Kirk started walking towards the other two. He shrugged his shoulders at them. Tom returned the shrug and looked expectantly at Moreau. "I can do it!" Tony exclaimed. "Give me just a few moments. Why didn't they put some kind of safeguard on this?" He began pressing buttons feverishly.

"They probably figured no one would be this stupid," Tom suggested.

"We can do it, Captain," Kirk finally replied. His expression was getting tense as well. This was cutting it close. "Have Bristol move Warlord to get between the core and our captured warbird. Her shields will have to protect it from the concussion of the explosion. You might want to have the REAL Devoras get out of here."

The hissing sound of the cutting torches was getting louder. Next to Kirk, he heard an unconscious reman begin to moan. He rolled his eyes. "Come ON... you've GOT to be kidding me."

"Which way will the core eject, Commander?" Bolerov's voice asked impatiently.

Kirk looked to Tom. He gave a thumbs up. "It'll pop the top."

"It'll come through the top." Kirk replied as he kicked the semi-conscious reman in the head, who stopped moaning.

"We'll be ready. Hurry up, Commander. You have twenty-five seconds." Bolerov's voice as almost panicked.

Kirk's heartbeat was racing. Tom's hands began to seat profusely. They looked at each Tony desperately. "I need ten more seconds." Tony said finally.

With a loud clunk, at least one of the doors had fallen to the torch. Green beams of disruptor light came firing at them from the right. Kirk grabbed Tony and pushed him to the ground. tony was so engrosed in what he was doing, he had no idea how dire the situation around him had become. He then began firing into the darkness with his phaser. "Tom, fire at will!" Kelly drew his phaser and fired madly.

There was a second clunk. Disruptor fire began streaking from the other side of the room. "It sure would have been nice to have some cover!" Tom yelled above the alarms, steam, reman yelling, and disruptor fire. They crouched to their knees making themselves as small a target as possible, using the core console for partial cover. Neither one had any idea if they were hitting anything other than air. Crackles of heat and electricity from nearby shots made their hair stand on end.

"That's it!" Tony exclaimed. A disruptor beam streaked past Tony's ear, singing the bottom of his lobe. "Ow!" he yelled, holding his ear.

"You have fifteen seconds." T'Nia's voice announced.

Kirk continued shooting into the darkness. "Why isn't anything happening?" His body was suddenly racked with pain. The force of a disruptor beam into his right side spun him around and knocked him to the ground, face down. The injury was both freezing and burning at the same time. The floor of the room felt cold against his cheek. As he stared at Tony, he could see his lips moving, but could hear nothing but the beating of his heart. It was slowing. Tony's eyes were terrified. He was obviously screaming. His vision darkened, his consciousness slipped.

"Well, Lord," his last thoughts echoed in his mind, "I did the best I could. I'm coming home." 


	21. Chapter 21

The world seemed to run in slow motion as Tony watched Stephen spin around. For a moment, it almost looked comical; Steve was on one knee then suddenly spun on that knee with his other leg straight out. He landed with a thud face first. It wasn't until Tony saw the missing, large section of Steve's right torso that he realized exactly what happened. Stephen seemed to be looking at him, but there was no movement. Green disruptor fire continued pouring in as the sound of running feet grew louder. "Steve!" he screamed. He stared momentarily in disbelief. Steve had moved in front of him to protect him. That shot was meant for HIM. "Oh, God... Steve! Answer me!" He half stood and reached for his fallen friend.

Tom grabbed him by the shoulder and forcibly pulled him back. "What are you doing?" He asked loudly. "Stay here! They're coming!" He continued firing madly at the sounds of footfalls coming closer. He kicked the bottom panel of the core with his free foot. "Damnit... LAUNCH!"

As if on command, the alarm changed tone. Yellow lights blinked around the top of the engine core. With a loud 'clank', a metal tube shot from the floor, encapsulating the core.

Tony didn't care. The sounds of phaser and disruptor fire crackled around him. The sounds of alarms rang above him. Smoke surrounded him. None of it mattered. All he could see was the blank stare in Steve's eyes. They had been friends for years. Yet, the last conversation he would remember was him being a horse's ass when Steve was just trying to calm him down. A disruptor beam tore through his uniform, grazing his right shoulder. It didn't matter. All he could see was the lifeless body of the friend he'd never get to watch football with again... make fun of T'Nia's anal behavior... sit on the porch outside his apartment and talk about girls... apologize.

A muffled voice of T'Nia came through the commander's comm badge. "Stand by... we're pulling you out."

"I've got medical emergencies here!" Tom yelled. "Beam us straight to sickbay!" 


	22. Chapter 22

"Lieutenant Commander, drop the shields." Bolerov's voice was calm, but hurried. Kirk's plan had started off so well, then everything completely fell apart. Could he have made a mistake in putting Kirk in charge? Was it a mistake to send ANYONE over there? He had good intentions, politically advantageous reasons for sending a Federation team to the ship to stop its destruction. Looking back, was the potential political gain worth this? He had been so confident at the beginning. It seemed like the right decision.

Smoke had partially filled the bridge, causing the few remaining conscious crew to cough. "It's no use, Sir," Lieutenant Bosa admitted from her science console. "Auxiliary power is gone. We're running on batteries."

O'Neill turned from the blown out remains of his navigation console. The right side of his face and arm were badly burned, his uniform melted to his skin. Somehow, despite the pain, he stayed at his post, obviously the result of years of training and experience. "I've got nothing, Sir. My console is completely dead." He was breathing heavy.

The red, flashing alarm lights of the Vigilant and two computer panels were the only things illuminating the bridge. As Bolerov surveyed the remains of his bridge, he came to the inescapable conclusion the fight was over. Thankfully, the auxiliary navigation panel on his command chair could still operate the maneuvering thrusters, but the weapons and shields were gone. Of the ten people stationed on the bridge, only four were still alive. He turned to his communications officer "Lieutenant Curran," he never thought he'd hear himself say this... "alert the crew... abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship."

His science and navigation officers looked worriedly at him. Bosa had a large gash across her forehead from flying debris. O'Neill looked like he was slowly losing consciousness. He nodded to them with a smile. "That means you... get out." Another shot rocked the ship, blowing out yet another panel on the bridge. Sparks rained from the shorted-out ceiling power junctures.

They slowly stood up. O'Neill already knew the answer, but he had to ask. "Are you coming, Sir?" he staggered towards the escape pod entry door to the rear of the bridge.

Bolerov shook his head. "I'm going to run interference for the rest of you. That Gem'Hadar cruiser had her shields knocked down pretty badly when last we saw. Maybe I ram it and buy you some more time."

The bridge guard and Lieutenant Bosa paused for a moment before crawling through the pod hatch, reflecting on the fact they'd never see their captain again. Despite the intense pain and waning consciousness, Aaron stood upright and saluted his captain one final time. Andrei Bolerov returned the salute with an official snap. Their eyes met one final time. Bolerov expressed not only a respect for Aaron as a shipmate and subbordinate, but his gratefullness as a friend with that single look.

Rather than insult the captain with tears, O'Neill spun on his heel and headed to the hatch while Bolerov plotted the fateful course that would send the Vigilant into its attacker at maximum thruster speed.

From the forward viewscreen, Tyler could see the ejected core rocketing through space. Per instructions, the Warlord was already above the romulan warbird. He had been anxious and exhilarated throughout the entire combat. It was something from one of his favorite old-time science fiction movies. That was before he was ordered to fly into the path of an exploding warp core. That was before Commander Kirk went down. It became entirely too real. Almost instinctively, he maneuvered the Warlord so that it would be precisely between the warbird and its ejected core. "We're in position, Sir," he reported without turning around.

"Five seconds to detonation," T'Nia added. She was in her mid forties and had lived much of her life without Stephen Kirk or Tony Moreau. Still, the thought of possibly living without one of them now was somehow... disquieting. It was best not to dwell on such matters... not until she knew what had happened.

The transporter chief's voice came across the communications panel. "They're aboard, Sir!" He yelled.

"Four," T'Nia counted.

Bolerov let out a sigh. "Raise the shields, Commander."

T'Nia quickly switched screens and raised the primary shields. Suddenly, an alarms rang. She switched panels back.

"What is it?" Bolerov asked quickly.

T'Nia shook her head. "It's the Devoras, Sir. She decloaked and is raising shields behind us."

Bolerov nodded. "Lieutenant Davies, reduce viewscreen brightness fifty percent."

Elaine had done everything in her power to not turn around. Her emotions had slowly been getting the better of her ever since the three left the bridge. When the bridge crew wound up overhearing the three getting overwhelmed and eventually shot, she coudln't hold back the tears any longer. They streamed down her face as her shaking fingers reduced the brightness. "Aye, aye, Sir," her voice was cracking.

Andrei could hear the stress and sorrow in Davies' voice, but chose to say nothing about it. "I guess we'll find out just how good these shields really are." At that same moment, a bright, silent flash filled the viewscreen. The flash lingered for several seconds. Everyone sat, still and quiet, as the explosion concluded. To everyone's surprise, the ship never moved a millimeter. Unlike the ships of Federation past, this one gracefully withstood the concussion of such a large-scale blast.

As the light faded, Bolerov turned to T'Nia. "Commander; what is our status?" It was almost too good to be true.

T'Nia quickly examined her console. "Shields holding at thirty one percent, Sir." Even she was a bit surprised.

Andrei raised his eyebrows. "Impressive. What about the other two ships?"

She pressed several controls before delivering her verdict. "They were both, apparently, behind us when the explosion occurred. They are fine." The bridge crew cheered and clapped with the successful mission. Captain Bolerov let out another sigh of relief.

Bolerov's comm badge beeped. "Lieutenant Kelly to Captain Bolerov." The somber tone in his voice quickly deflated the atomosphere in the room. They all stopped, turned, and stared at the captain.

Bolerov's smile vanished. He tapped his badge. "Bolerov here, Lieutenant."

"You'd better get down here." He said simply.

"Lieutenant Commander T'Nia," Bolerov started. She was expecting him to tell her she could accompany him. She was mistaken. "you have the bridge." 


	23. Chapter 23

As much as he was consciously trying to walk at a dignified pace, Andrei found himself rushing his steps. The wooden doors to the sickbay slid open quietly. As he stepped into the front office, through the open door to the left he could see Tony sitting on a table. He stared, without expression, into another room. The top of Lieutenant Moreau's uniform had been put hastily on the bed and a large, brown gauze wrapping was wound around his right shoulder. As the captain walked into the observation room, Lieutenant Kelly met him. His face was ashen. He wasn't even looking directly at the captain. "Captain..." he started.

Bolerov didn't want to her emotions. He didn't want to here sentiment. He didn't want to hear sympathy. He just needed to know. Firmly, he grabbed Tom's shoulders. Tom slowly looked up. "What's the status?" he demanded.

"They've... got him in the operating room already." he answered slowly.

There was more, Andrei thought. "That's good, yes?" He asked hopefully. This couldn't happen... not on his first official mission as the captain of the Warlord. He had already failed miserably once before. It couldn't happen to him again. He had given orders that had cost lives before. That wasn't the problem. It had been war then, not a political move.

Tom slowly shook his head. "The doc says he probably won't survive the surgery."

Bolerov's eyes narrowed. Slowly, his gaze shifted to the open doorway at the far end of the observation room. He could see Doctor Rass and the EMH working feverously in the cramped operating room. He let go of Lieutenant Kelly and walked over to the doorway.

As he got closer, he could see small, shimmering lines of energy streaking across the doorway. A force field must be in place, Andrei thought. He maneuvered himself as close as he could and gasped. Stephen was lying sideways, naked on the table with some kind of panel arched and extended over his midsection. He was lying on his left side. Through the overhead display, he could see the wound, now freshly opened. It was huge; at least twenty centimeters in diameter. Parts of his lungs and ribs were clearly exposed. Three tubes were connecting Stephen to a large device above him, while a monitoring panel watched every vital sign with lights and noise.

The doctor had pulled a syringe from Stephen's back. He handed it to Hal. "Take these stem cells and manufacture some lung tissue."

"Yes, Doctor," any hint of dislike between the two had vanished. He obediently took the syringe and injected it into an incubator-looking machine. After a few moments, he pressed a series of buttons and slides on the side of the box, then looked through the microscope-looking lenses on its top.

"How long till it's done?" Dorrin asked.

Hal tapped a few controls. "Ninety-seven minutes."

Doctor Rass nodded. "Good. I've finished taking the measurements of his ribs." He turned around to a wall-mounted device that looked similar to an everyday replicator. "I'm putting the calculations into the replicator." He tapped several controls, then pointed his tricorder at it. "I'll have artificial ribs in less than an hour."

Bolerov was morbidly fascinated with this combination of technology and medicine. The rare glimpse into the human anatomy had him transfixed on the display.

The monitoring panel sounded an alarm. Rass looked at the monitor. "Now his liver shut down! Give me twenty ccs of polyadrenaline, stat!" The EMH quickly tapped letters and numbers into the overhead machine. A white liquid began pouring through one of the tubes. Yet more alarms began sounding. "Damnit! He's gone into arrest."

The EMH turned quickly to Captain Bolerov as Rass frantically reached for the stimulators. "His organs have been shutting down ever since he arrived."

Rass poked the stimulators through the panel, presumably onto Stephen's chest. Andrei was getting genuinely panicked. "Aren't you supposed to lay him down before shocking his heart like that?" He asked quickly. His hands began shaking. He made fists to cover their movement. Tom and Tony ran to the door to look.

The EMH went back to the side panel. "Normally, yes. But his entire right side is currently exposed. Laying him down would drain his body fluids."

Rass interrupted. "Charge to two hundred." Hal tapped a few more controls and nodded. "Do it!" Rass yelled. Hal pressed a button and Kirk's body momentarily shook. For a moment, the alarms stopped, then restarted. "Again!" He yelled. Hal started tapping more buttons. "I'm giving him five ccs of tricordrazine." He said as he pressed buttons of his own on the overhead dispenser. He pounded the bed next to Kirk's body. "Come on, Stephen... don't you give up on me!" Hal nodded again. "Do it!" 


	24. Chapter 24

The heart rate indicator began beeping faster, prompting the mostly asleep Doctor Rass to sit up, blinking frequently. He stretched and yawned, then tried to focus his eyes on the biosign monitor. Heart rate increase, temperature increasing, blood pressure rising... all good signs. He stood up and walked up to the bed. T'Nia, who had been in the room as soon as her watch ended, also walked to the bed. Tony wasn't far behind. His arm still in a sling, but in fresh clothes. Even Lieutenant Box had faithfully stood by the bed waiting.

Though tired, Doctor Rass smiled warmly at his patient. "Good morning, Commander."

The voice was almost like an echo, but he plainly heard it. Slowly, Stephen squinted his eyes open. As he began focusing on his friends, he was momentarily disappointed. Just before losing consciousness, he was actually looking forward to heaven. This obviously wasn't it. Kirk took several deep, pained breaths before speaking. "I thought I was dead."

The entire group let out a collective sigh of relief at hearing Steve talk. Dorrin patted him on his good arm. "Actually, you did die... twice."

Stephen pondered that statement a moment. To know that his life had ended twice, but he was still here felt somewhat odd to him. He had always considered heaven to be the true 'final frontier' and had been looking forward to talking to Solomon since he was a young man. To know he was that close to it, but was yanked away was almost depressing. "Thanks for bringing me back," he replied politely, even though he barely meant it.

"Well, I'll be perfectly honest, Stephen. I wish I could say it was my exemplary surgical technique that saved you, although I was pretty good." He smiled wider. "No... someone out there greater than all of us wanted to keep you with us awhile longer."

Kirk smiled weakly. That knowledge gave him some comfort. Doctor Rass walked over to his medical replicator and started pressing buttons.

"It is quite agreeable to see you, Stephen. Your condition was... disquieting." T'Nia commented.

"Hhhhi was very worried," Box added.

Tony chimed in. "Yeah, you scared the crap out of me, Steve. If you ever die on me again, I'll beat the tar outta you." 

Stephen laughed weakly. "I'll keep that in mind." His side hurt, causing him to wince.

Dorrin turned around. "You should avoid taking deep breaths for awhile. I essentially had to rebuild your right side, including part of your right lung. The lung tissue is still young and delicate, so I'll be keeping you here for another day, just to keep an eye on you."

Stephen was confused. "Another day?"

"The surgery was eighteen hours," Rass replied. He pushed a small vial against the replicator. A pale green liquid filled the vial. "You've been unconscious for... six hours now. It's stardate 56974.4." He placed the vial into a hypospray.

"Wow," Kirk whispered. He had lost an entire day. Still, there was a reason why he was still here. Part of it, he was convinced, was figuring out why Bolerov sent him on a suicide mission in the first place. He looked at Tony's arm. "What happened to you?"

"I got shot while I was yelling at you," he said, smiling. Thoughts of their arguement had completely faded from Tony's mind. Seeing Steve so close to death reminded him of what was really important.

"Sorry," Kirk offered.

"I know... just don't let it happen again."

Dorrin walked back over to Commander Kirk. "Okay, you need a little more strength... give your body some more time to heal. It's time to take a rest." He shook the hypospray. "Don't worry, you'll feel a whole lot better tomorrow. And, as long as the tissue takes hold, I'll even let you go back to your quarters."

Kirk nodded slightly. "Whatever it takes, Doc." Rass poked him in the neck with the hypospray and released the fluid.

As Kirk went back to sleep, Doctor Rass turned to the group of friends. "Alright... now we can ALL get some sleep." 


	25. Chapter 25

"Now you're reducing me to a candy striper?" Hal asked disgustedly as he walked a food tray past Dorrin into the main office.

"Until I'm dead, yes." Rass smiled grandly as he crossed Hal's path to visit his patient. He walked into the observation room to see Kirk, sitting up in bed and reading something on a PADD. Dorrin was still amazed. There was just no medical reason for Stephen to be alive. Granted, Rass' surgical skill was key to the commander's fast recovery. The simple truth was, however, he had a hole in his body large enough to fly a shuttle through, at least half a dozen major organs shut down during the surgery, and his heart stopped twice. The Prophets were certainly looking out for him.

Dorrin took a quick look at the biosign monitor and nodded with approval. He was recovering nicely. "How's my favorite patient?" He asked cheerfully.

"I'm your only patient," Kirk looked up from his PADD and smiled. "But I'm feeling better... stiff... but better." He REALLY wanted to get back to his quarters. Stephen wasn't complaining about the company. Rass Dorrin was actually a much more pleasant fellow than he originally thought. He still came off as VERY confident in his talent, but willing to share stories of growing up during the Bajoran occupation, his family, and his previous posts. The few times Dorrin had to activate Hal were also quite humorous.

Doctor Rass mockingly looked around. "So you are. Did the chicken broth go down alright? No signs of nausea?"

Kirk shook his head. "Nope. Does that mean I can have real food?" That was his second bland meal. Breakfast, if you could call it that, was a piece of dry toast and water.

Rass shook his head and smiled. "We'll see about tomorrow. For today; dry toast, broth, water, and crackers. Your body went through a lot of stress yesterday. You had six major organs shut down." He pointed squarely at Stephen. "We're going to take it EASY for awhile, right?"

"Right," Kirk replied dejectedly.

"That means food, too." Dorrin concluded. "I don't even want you TOUCHING a spice for the next couple of days... except for a modest amount of salt. And drink plenty of water. You lost a lot of fluid during the surgery."

From the next room, they could hear the sound of the heavy wooden double doors sliding open, then closed. Rass and Kirk turned to see Captain Bolerov coming through the entryway. He was smiling, but it seemed forced. "Good morning, gentlemen," he said politely. "I hope I'm not disturbing anything important."

"Not at all," Rass countered. He patted Kirk's leg. "Take it easy. With luck, I'll be discharging you this afternoon." He turned towards the door and Bolerov. "Captain." He acknowledged with a nod.

"Doctor," Bolerov returned with a nod.

"Thanks, Doc." Kirk called out.

Bolerov walked up to Kirk's bed. This was going to be uncomfortable. In his heart, he didn't want to be here. He was much more comfortable staying an arms distance from his crew. He certainly wasn't used to being questioned. However, with the events that almost killed him, he knew, deep down, that he owed his first officer an explanation. "So..." he struggled, "you're doing very well, yes?"

Kirk nodded. This was uncomfortable for him. Stephen had been under Bolerov's command for less than a month, and he didn't like him. He was pushy, arrogant, demanding and self-serving. He didn't want a crew capable of independent thought, just mindless minions. Andrei, in Kirk's opinion, would have made one heck of a Borg Queen. Despite all the vitriol he wanted to spew, common sense intercepted his words. "Yeah," he answered, "Doc says I can go back to my quarters this afternoon."

"That's good," Andrei answered, nodding absently. For Bolerov, it was like waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was expecting anger, pain, or resentment from Kirk. Considering what he had been through, it would have been understandable. "Then, you will be able to celebrate Christmas in the comfort of your own place. That's good."

Kirk nodded. As if the captain cared at all about Christmas, he thought. He studied the captain's facial features. His hair was short and peppered gray... standard military haircut similar to the way he wore it in the Marines. His skin was ruddy and tan, but with several wrinkles, now that he could see up close. His eyes were a steel gray. They looked troubled. Apparently, this conversation was just as uncomfortable for him.

"Oh," Bolerov suddenly remembered his excuse for coming down to see Stephen in the first place, "the romulans have requested we share our Christmas holiday with them... kind of a cross cultural exchange sort of thing. Since it's two days away, I was hoping you'd be recovered enough to just sit and talk with some of them. It would only be a few minutes."

"I can do that," Kirk replied, somewhat surprised at the notion and the question. What an interesting opportunity, he thought. He wondered if Andrei was throwing him some kind of consolation duty in repayment.

"I mean, I know you're officially off duty for at least a week, but..." Bolerov offered. It was the romulans who had asked for this holiday sharing. Truth be told, Andrei had been against it, but people in greater authority than he overruled him. He didn't really want to put another burden on Stephen, after all he had been through, but the simple truth was; Kirk was probably more knowledgeable on the origins of the holiday than anyone else he knew.

"It's alright," Kirk interrupted. He already said yes... what more did he want?

"Good, good..." Bolerov repeated. The tension was testing his patience. His steel eyes became determined. He wasn't going to continue this adversarial relationship with Kirk any longer. From Bolerov's estimation, Kirk was a good person. As usual, Admiral Wellington's assessment of Kirk was probably jaded by something trivial. He gently pounded the bed Kirk was lying on. "Mr. Kirk, we need air some personality issues. For the remainder of our discussion, feel free to speak with me as candidly as you wish. Nothing's on the record. Okay?"

Bolerov's expression actually seemed sincere. This was the moment Kirk had been waiting for ever since they left Spacedock. He had wanted to verbally tear into this guy for weeks. Why, then... when he now has the chance, is he just not as angry as he was? The guy almost got him killed on a mission they never should have taken. On top of that, he best friend got shot, too. He should have been furious, but he wasn't. "Okay, Sir," he replied. 


	26. Chapter 26

Bolerov sat down with a heavy breath. "Alright," He took several extra moments to gather hit thoughts and organize them, scratching his chin. "first of all... my reasoning for sparing the third warbird. I found it odd that remans, a supposedly inferior, slave race, had gotten their hands on romulan technology. To me, that meant either there were romulans on those ships, or romulans sold the ships to the remans. Either way, romulans were probably involved. We needed to know for sure," Bolerov frequently made gestures with his hands to emphasize his points. "but if we destroyed all three ships, we'd never know. Does that help?"

Kirk nodded slowly, but was still clearly troubled. "I figured that part out, Captain. What I don't understand is why send us? There were romulans right behind us who could have boarded that ship and figured everything out a whole lot quicker than us. AND... they had the numbers to defend themselves." His frustration, though checked, was still obvious.

Bolerov nodded slowly. His brow furrowed. This was going to be difficult to answer without admitting to certain pieces of information not generally known. After scratching his ear, he finally began. "This one is a little harder... and part of it you'll just have to trust me on. We both know what the last several years has done to the Federation, right?"

"I guess you're referring to the wars, right?" Kirk replied half-sarcastically.

"Right." Bolerov nodded. He recognized the sarcasm, but decided not to show it. "Well, those wars have taken a toll on us... the romulans, too. We just don't know how badly it's affected them. Romulans are pretty tight-lipped about that sort of thing. Our intelligence says the wars plus this recent political shake up has thrown their entire military structure into a tailspin." He paused a moment to let that sink in.

Kirk shook his head. "I guess I still don't get it."

"Consider this; either their gestures of friendship are either a front to cover deeper troubles, or it's a sincere effort on their part to start over. Either way, the Federation needs to enter into these talks with a strong presence. Everyone knows we've suffered losses. What we need to do is clearly demonstrate we can bounce back more quickly than anyone else." He pointed to Kirk for emphasis. "You already started that by defeating an enemy they couldn't hope to stop on their own."

"Okay..."

"Romulans respect strength, but they have notoriously short memories. I sent you over to that ship to prove that not only are our starships superior, so are the people inside." He winked.

Kirk started putting the pieces together. He wasn't exactly thrilled with how they were adding up. "So... we were almost killed to show our superiority?"

Bolerov could tell this wasn't a very good explanation, but it had made sense to him. He was confident his superiors would be more closely aligned with his strategy. "I wouldn't have sent you if I didn't think you could do it. Try to take it as a compliment. I wanted to send my best person... that was you." Stephen was still having a difficult time with this move, which was politically motivated, not militarily motivated. That must be where Stephen was having his difficulties. "Stephen, the events of the next several months could very well shape future history. Everything we do could have a serious impact on things to come. Despite our weakness, we must continue to look strong. That way, we keep the upper hand during our talks. This is a case where you have to look at the bigger picture. If nothing else, you have to trust me." His gaze was intent upon Stephen, but his request for trust actually seemed warm.

"And you thought about this in the whole three seconds between finding out the romulan ship was going to self-destruct and telling me to go?" It was still a little hard for Stephen to handle, but since Bolerov was making a sincere gesture, Kirk wanted to return the favor.

Andrei shook his head. "No... most of this I knew about from years of experience. The concept of a strong show of force was already in my head from the fight. Having Federation officers stop a romulan self-destruct was just a natural next step. You see... now... whether they want to admit it or not, they'll have to know we can beat anything they can throw at us. History will look favorably on this series of events, Commander... just you wait and see."

So, that was it, Stephen thought. Bolerov wants to be remembered for something important. He wants to retire in glory and fame. His years of Starfleet service are coming to and end and he sees this as an opportunity to get into history books for something other than ramming Cardassian ships. "I think I understand," Kirk concluded, nodding slowly.

"Good!" Bolerov gently tapped Kirk's leg. He stood up with an 'oof'. "You get some rest. Read your book. I will give you plenty of warning before the romulan delegation arrives day after tomorrow. Oh, yes," Bolerov added with a finger snap, "a certain romulan centurian has been asking about you. I told her you would contact her as soon as you were up to it." Captain Bolerov headed for the door, then turned back around. "I hope we can take this as a new start to our relationship, Commander. Maybe you understand my thinking a little more."

"Yes, Sir... I believe I do." Kirk replied.

"Excellent. Rest well, Commander." Bolerov replied with an unusually cheery voice. Whew, he thought. That had gone better than he had hoped. Perhaps this truly was a new start. After all, this was an opportunity to secure the Federation for years to come. Andrei was getting old and wasn't going to be able to fight much longer. God only knows my last attempt didn't work well, he thought. If they could finally secure a lasting peace with the romulans, with the Federation holding the upper hand... that would be wonderful. You know... that Stephen Kirk is a pretty good guy after all. 


	27. Chapter 27

The door to Commander Kirk's quarters slid open with a hiss. "Take it easy," Tony said calmly. "Take it easy. You're almost there."

"You DO remember I'm hurt, not blind, right?" Stephen replied sarcastically. 

"Hey... I could always let go."The two entered the door. Stephen was wearing a large, white, inflated vest that helped support his ribs so they wouldn't compress on the new tissue. His left arm was draped around Tony's shoulders. The two turned and walked sideways into Stephen's room.

"Computer, lights." Kirk commanded. Obediently, his lights came on. Slowly, they made their way to the couch.

Tony looked at the mural on the living room wall above the couch. "I can't believe you still have that thing." He remarked, shaking his head. Stephen purchased that mural on Mars during Spring Break during their third year at the Academy on Mars. Because the mural was so big, Steve had to fold the ends in order for it to fit on his dorm wall. Looking at the frayed mural, he could still see the fold marks. My, how things had changed since then. "You still have that steering wheel, too?"

Stephen slid down onto his couch with an 'oomph'. He nodded his head. Pointing, he answered, "It's in my bedroom hanging on the wall along with vintage, 1964 Mustange bumper," He added a proud nod.

Tony rolled his eyes. "That must REALLY have the girls lining up, huh?" He sat down in the matching recliner caddie corner to the couch behind the glass coffee table. Now THIS seemed to be like old times. He never knew how much he missed them.

Stephen examined his friend thoughtfully. Tony was hanging around for a reason. I could have made it here by myself, he thought. The way Tony's eyes lingered on the mural... he was obviously waxing nostalgic on simpler times... not that they were that much simpler. Like it or not, those Academy days were gone and so were the lives they used to live. "Yeah, yeah," Kirk finally remarked. "They're not beating down my door the way they are for you." Stephen gave him a wry grin.

Tony gave him a smart-alec mimic of Steve's facial expression and stood up. "I'm thirsty. You want something?" He headed for the food replicator.

Kirk nodded. "Yeah, thanks. I'll take a cola."

Tony nodded back. "Sounds good. Computer; two ice cold glasses of cola." The window below the replicator in the wall glowed and shimmered. As the light faded, he removed two long glasses from the alcove. As Tony walked back, he noticed a Christmas tree in the far corner of the living room. It was maybe a meter and a half tall, with brightly colored lights blinking all around. At the top, just as back in his Academy dorm, there was a crown. "When did you put that up?"

Stephen turned to look at the tree. "A little over a week ago, I guess."

Tony handed him a glass as he sat back down. "Yeah, I guess I haven't been in here since our little..." He looked down. Having had some time to reflect on the events of the past several weeks, he had come to the humbling conclusion that Steve was right, T'Nia was right, and he was a jerk. This was going to be a hard admission to make.

Stephen interrupted him. This was finally going to get brought up again. Maybe they can finally put it all behind them. After all, events of the past couple of days had convinced him there were more important things than being in charge. He wasn't exactly begging for a promotion in the first place. He wasn't about to let it ruin his friendship. "Look, Tony... about that..."

Tony held up his hand. "Hang on, Steve." Tony gathered his strength and looked him in the eyes. "I'm really, really sorry. I was a one hundred percent, genuine horse's ass. You had every right to be mad." There... he said it. A fifty kilo weight just came off his heart.

Thank goodness, Steve thought. "No, I had no right telling you that you needed to grow up. I didn't know all the facts..."

"You knew enough." Tony continued shaking his head. "I did need to grow up. I was being selfish." He sat back, a defeated look on his face. It was time to come clean about everything... well, almost everything. "Look, this 'my-Academy-buddy-is-now-my-commanding-officer' thing may take some getting used to, but I had no right putting you in that position."

Stephen was thrilled that this might actually be over. "I'm sorry, too." He smiled. "Still friends?" He offered up his glass.

Tony accepted the toast. "Oh, you aren't getting rid of me that easily. Now... I'm not saying I'll be perfect from here on out... but I'll try." He took a long drink.

"Good," Stephen replied with a smile. "Then I'll try to keep you out of the brig for insubbordination." He took a long drink, too.

Tony smiled. "Good... because it's still not built yet." 


End file.
